Occupy – Week 3 – Occupy Hub City Church

I got home from church last week and had an email from Clay waiting for me. He and Heidi went to Barnes and Noble and on their way passed this group of Occupy Protesters marching through Spartanburg.

Did any of you see them? They even made the paper.

I love the quote from one of them, “This is the South—we get a lot of car honks and a lot of waves. Occasionally, someone will yell, ‘Get a job.’ I could be working right now, but I chose to march. People need to speak out.”

I don’t know about you, but I find that funny. It goes back to what I said a couple of weeks ago as what I see as a weakness or an inherent problem with the occupy movement. It’s all talk and no action. They aren’t doing anything.

But there’s too much at stake to just be a voice. There are too many problems, too many tragedies, too much injustice for us to just “speak out.” It’s time we start doing something. It’s time to occupy something that matters.

And so what we’ve said so far in this series is that it starts with us. We’re the problem. And then last week we said that even though we can’t do something for everyone we need to do what we can do. We need to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone.

But I think that if we really want to make a difference, if we really want to change the world, if we really want to occupy something that matters then we need to be a part of a movement whose sole purpose is to change the world.

The movement I’m talking about is the church. The church is the body of Christ on earth.

Now I know what some of you are thinking: “The church! No way.” and the reason we think that is because the church hasn’t always been that good at being  the world-changing movement that God intended it to be. But Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:13-16 You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead  they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

The church is a movement meant to change the world. But how can we join up with this movement in a way that we’ll see real change in our world?

Well, I want to take you to an unlikely passage of scripture out of the Old Testament that talks about the construction of the tabernacle because it holds the key for showing us how to join up with this movement that God intended to change the world.

Let me give you some context: After the Israelites left Egypt, God gave them all of these rules and these laws that would set them apart as his chosen people. One thing that God wanted them to do was to build a tabernacle. And God gives  Moses extremely detailed instructions about how he wants his tabernacle built.

Most of us aren’t familiar with the tabernacle, but basically, it was a mobile temple. It was a place that was to represent God’s presence among his people and in the world. So it’s pretty important. It was a foreshadowing of what the church is supposed to be.

And in chapter 35 we see them starting to gather resources and put people in place to construct this tabernacle, this mobile temple. We are going to start reading in verse 4.

4 Moses said to the whole Israelite community, “This is what the LORD has commanded: 5 From what you have, take an offering for the LORD.

I want you to notice something right off the bat:They are told that they aren’t to give what they don’t have. They are to give an offering from what they had. What they had came from the Egyptians.

Everyone who is willing…

Notice he says “everyone who is willing.” In other words, this isn’t a forced offering. God isn’t forcing anyone to do something. It is completely voluntary.

Everyone who is willing is to bring to the LORD an offering of gold, silver and bronze; 6 blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; 7 ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows; acacia wood; 8 olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; 9 and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

He’s inviting them to give of their resources to build the tabernacle. A project that would represent his presence in the world.

 10 “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the LORD has commanded:

Here we see that the people are invited to use their talents to make the tabernacle. How did they respond to this request? Skip down to Verse 20.

20 Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, 21 and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. 22 All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD.

If you were wondering where the phrase, wave your hand in the air like you just don’t care, came from, it was here.

23 Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or hides of sea cows brought them. 24 Those presenting an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the LORD, and everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it. 25 Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun—blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen. 26 And all the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goat hair. 27 The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. 28 They also brought spices and olive oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense. 29 All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the LORD freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.

I don’t know about you, but I just find this pretty incredible. This is an incredible display of voluntary generosity on behalf of the Israelites. And the reason for it was to build the place that was to represent God’s presence in the the world.

Basically, what we see in this chapter is these people are invited to use their time, talents and resources for the construction of the tabernacle, the place that was God’s representative among his people.

Let’s bring this back to the church.

The tabernacle was a place that represented God’s presence in the world. The church isn’t a place, it is a presence in the world. The church is a presence that brings the presence of God to the world. The church is God’s representative on earth. We are Christ’s ambassadors. We are called the body of Christ. When people are in our presence it should be as close as being in the presence of Jesus as we can be this side of eternity. And as Christ’s ambassadors and Christ’s body, we are invited to use our time, talents and resources to make his name known among the nations.

And like we saw in the passage with the tabernacle and what it took to get it up and running, the church, for it to reach its full potential is going to take all of us giving our time, talents and resources as a willing offering to God so that the church can be the presence of God in the world that God intended it to be.

But here’s the deal. It starts here. It starts with you giving your time, talents and resources here at Hub City Church. God invites us to give of our time, talents and resources to make Hub City Church all that it can be. The reason I’m being specific about Hub City Church is because that is our base of operation. It’s not that we are better than anybody, but God works through a local church family. Hub City Church is our family. What we do here opens the door for us to move on beyond our church to our community and to Haiti and around the world.

That’s why we serve. That’s why we give. That’s why we commit to spending time together in worship, hub groups and mission.

And remember it is a willing invitation to use your time, talents and resources for the good of our church body so that we can be the presence of God in the world. I am not trying to force you. It has to be willing.

And remember, we are to give from what we have. Don’t try and be someone you’re not.

Now, what might happen if we all willingly give of our time, talents and resources for the good of the church? Let’s go back to the story because something incredible happened in Exodus 36:

1 So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the LORD has commanded.”

 2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.”

Did you catch that? They brought too much. They were overwhelmed with resources.

 6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

Notice what happens when everybody does their part. They have more than enough. They have to start asking people to stop giving.

I think we could see the same thing. And do you know what would happen if every Christian in every church in the world did this? We would change the world!

So how do we work to support Hub City Church with our time, talent and resources?

Now, I could just leave it there with some ambiguous challenge for you to use your time, talent and treasure for the good of God’s church. But that would be letting you off the hook, and I can’t do that. So I’m going to prod you a bit.

Time: how much time can you give? Some of you can volunteer an hour a week. Some of you can volunteer 20 hours a week. What time are you going to willingly give to the movement?

Talent: What are you good at doing? Many of you use your talent every day at your job, but God didn’t just give you your talents to make money. He gave you your talents to make his name known around the world. How can you use your talents for the good of the church?

Some of you love computers. How can you use that passion in the church? Some of you love kids. How can you use that at Hub City? We want to start a small group for kids. We just need one of you to step up and say, “Here am I. Use me.”

Resources: What resources will you give for the good of God’s church? Now this does include the 10% that we call the tithe, but it’s more than that. Actually, this offering is over and above the tithe. Some of you can give more than 10%.

I don’t want you to leave here today without making some kind of commitment to use your time, talents and resources for the good of the church. What are you going to do?

 

Occupy – week 2 – What you can do

Welcome to week 2 of Occupy. We’re taking the first few weeks of 2012 to talk about occupying something that matters. It is about doing something to make a difference.

But I was thinking this week and if I think about it, there’s a problem with this whole idea of occupying something that matters. That is, when you look at what you can do and compare that to all of the problems and tragedies and difficulties and disasters that are going on in our world, it can be overwhelming. I mean, what can you do, what can I do, that’s really going to make a difference?

That’s why last week we said that it starts inside of us. If we want to occupy something that matters then it start with occupying me. And the way we occupy me is getting rid of those things in our lives that hinder and distract and entangle us and investing our time in things like Bible reading and being in a community of friends in a Hub Group. Our habits will determine the influence of our lives. It starts with us.

But then where do you go? What do we do in light of all of the stuff that needs to be done? In light of high unemployment, broken families, modern day slavery, war, disasters, poverty, AIDS, famine, abuse, orphans, and the countless other injustices that plague the world we live in, what do you do? It’s overwhelming, isn’t it? So what do you do?

A couple of months ago, Josh and I went to a conference in Atlanta and heard Andy Stanley answer this question, and it was so profound that I had to share with you what he taught us.

The answer comes from the book of Galatians in the Bible. In this letter that Paul wrote to the Christians living in Galatia we find some instruction about what to do. And there are just a couple of sentences that I want us to look at.

Galatians 6:9-10

9 Let us not become weary in doing good,

I love what he says here to start us off because if you’re like me then you can become weary of doing good. In this context here, doing good, is broad. Paul means doing good morally, ethically, socially, just doing good in whatever context you find yourself in.

He says, “don’t become weary in doing good,” which is what we need to hear, because sometimes we just get tired of being good, or doing good. We get tired of being generous. We get tired of serving other people. We get tired of caring and paying attention. We get tired of trying.

It makes me think of my kids. Usually when they go stay with their grandparents they are so good that they just come home and crash. They are tired from doing and being good.

Paul is saying, “I understand the weariness that comes with caring. I understand the weariness that comes from carrying other people’s burdens. I understand the weariness that comes by being overwhelmed with all of the problems that we hear about on a daily basis.” But he says, don’t become weary in doing good. Another way to think about it is: don’t disengage and check-out. Don’t say, “well, I can’t do anything about it so I’m not even going to look. I can’t solve it all so I don’t even want to know about it.” Paul says, don’t do that. Stay engaged and stay involved because, look at the rest of the verse.

⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

That is, if we press on and do what we can do, then, in time, there will be a reward for the good we are doing. Then he goes on to say:

¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity,

The little Greek word translated opportunity could also be translated as time, so “as you have time:”

¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

See, Paul knows that we are busy and that we have limited time and limited opportunity. Paul knows that we don’t have time to do everything. So, as you consider the time that you have. As you consider the opportunity that you have. As you consider the pace of your life, as you consider the life stage that you’re in, as you have opportunity, as you have time, as God gives you opportunity, or as God gives you time, do good for other people, especially those who are a part of the household of faith.

Throughout the Bible we are taught, and the apostle Paul says it so clearly here, that in spite of the fact that there are problems that we can’t fully solve. In spite of that fact that we may never fix all of the world’s problems. In spite of all of that, you and I are responsible to do what we can for someone, somewhere.

With the time we have and the opportunities we have, we can’t shut our eyes to the needs of others. We can’t let the magnitude of the problems around us cause us to shut down. We can’t allow any of that to cause us to miss the opportunity to do something for someone.

Basically you can boil down what Paul is saying here to one phrase:

Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.

Say that out loud with me.

One of the reasons that I love this phrase is that is flies in the face of something that all of us heard when we were children. And when you heard this as a child it made you mad.

You know what I’m talking about, right? You’d go to your teacher and say, “I’d like to do ____________.” They would say back, “If I let you do that then I’d have to let everybody do it.”

You ask someone else for something and they say, “If I let you have one, then I have to give everybody one.”

And throughout our childhood people used this ridiculous phrase, “If I do for one, then I have to do for everyone.”

And I know what you thought when they said that, because I thought the same thing. When they said: “If I let you go, then I have to let everybody go.” And what did you think? “No you don’t. You can just let me go. And here’s the deal: You don’t tell anybody and I won’t tell anybody. Who’s going to know?”

I mean, where in the world did we come up with the idea that if you let me go then everybody has to go, or if you give me one then you have to give everybody one. Where did that come from? I mean, I don’t see anybody standing here with a gun to your head. Just let me go. Make me the exception. You don’t have to do for everyone what you want to do for the one. Just do it for the one, right?

But we run into a problem here because so many of us bring this whole idea, that if we’re going to do for one we’ve got to do for everyone, into how we view the world with all of its problems and we end up doing nothing. We miss this powerful idea, that your responsibility, and my responsibility is to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone.

And I know that so many of us have been so overwhelmed by so much for so long that we have come to the conclusion that I’m not going to do for anyone because I can’t do for everyone. But if you’re a Christian, you can’t do that because you and I have a responsibility. We are not to become weary in doing good, but as we have opportunity we need to do good to who we can do good to. We need to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone.

Now I know that some of you are pushing back at this whole idea because you think, “Well, that’s not fair.” If you are thinking that let me give you the advice I give my kids: Don’t worry about fair. Life’s not fair. God’s not fair. Momma wasn’t fair. Daddy’s not fair. Forget fair. Fair ended in the garden of Eden.

It’s not about being fair. It’s about doing the right thing. And if you try and be fair then you end up doing nothing because you can’t do it for everyone.

Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.

My prayer for you this year is that sometime this year God will nudge you. You’re going to see that one single mom, you’re going to see that one struggling family, you’re going to see that one group of kids, you’re going to see that one guy in your office, you’re going to see that one children’s home, you’re going to see that one individual or group, and God’s going to nudge you and say, “That’s your one. Now I want you to do for that one what you wish you could do for everyone.”

And don’t use the excuse that since I can’t do it for everybody I’m going to do it for nobody. Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.

I want to give you three tips to remember when you feel that nudge that will help with this.

1. Go deep rather than wide.

Our tendency is go wide not deep, and the reason we do that is because it’s just easier. We say, “I’m going to give you $5 and you $10 and I’m going to pray with you once and I’m going pray with you once and I’m going to pray with you once.” And I’m going to feel good but I’m not going to make that much of a difference. To do for one what you wish you could do for everyone means that you have to go deep, rather than wide.

In other words, if you have a passion for the poor don’t just have a general concern for the poor. Find a person or two who is in utter poverty and go deep with them.

2. Go long-term rather than short-term.

In other words, this is a big time commitment. In terms of making a difference requires time. It can’t be hit and run. That’s why we’ve partnered with Alex’s House Orphanage because we know that over time we will make a greater impact. To do for one what you wish you could do for everyone go long term rather than short term.

3. Go time, not just money.

It’s easy to give money. But making a real difference means you need to give more than just money. You need to give time. That’s why we aren’t just sending money to Haiti, but we are taking trips there. And, we are going a to be inviting each of you to give some of your time and go with us to Haiti sometime.

See, as overwhelmed as we are with things we can’t do anything about we need to remember that our responsibility is to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone. To go deep not wide. To go long-term rather than short-term. And to go time, not just money.

So here’s what i want you to do: I want you to be on the lookout for the one, and be looking for that nudge. This year I want you to pay attention. This year, I don’t want you be overwhelmed. This year I want you to look for the one because your responsibility is to do for the one what you wish you could do for everyone.

As followers of Jesus we can’t run and hide. We can’t be overwhelmed. We can’t become weary at doing good. We need to use our time and opportunities, as God nudges us this year, to do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.

And here’s what I think: If everybody did that, it might change the whole world. If everybody did for one what we wish we could do for everyone, then we might change the world. But here’s what I know for certain: If you do for one what you wish you could do for everyone then you will certainly change somebody’s world, and I’m pretty sure it will change your world as well.

So here’s the commitment that I want you to make. Commit to being sensitive to the nudge and do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.

 

Occupy – week 1 – Occupy Me

We’ve all heard of the Occupy Movement. A little history lesson: It started as Occupy Wall Street and it is a protest movement which began last year. Protesters took up residence in New York City’s in Zuccotti Park, located in the Wall Street financial district. The protests were mainly against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed, corruption, and the undue influence of corporations. The protesters have slogans like We are the 99% which refers to the growing income and wealth inequality in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. The protests in New York City have sparked similar Occupy protests and movements around the world. We even had our own little occupy protest here in Spartanburg.

Now, I know I’m about to make some of you mad, but I see a huge problem with the Occupy Movement. That problem, from my perspective, is that the protesters aren’t doing anything. They’re just taking up public space, costing tax-payer money and coming up with cool slogans like “we are the 99%.”

So around November of last year I started wondering: What if, instead of protesting something we started to do something? What if, instead of camping out and carrying signs, we started doing what we could do to make a difference? I get why the 99% is protesting and occupying parks around the country. I even empathize to a degree, but I just think it’s a waste of time because they aren’t doing anything.

I think it’s time we do something. It’s time for us to occupy something that matters. So over the next few weeks that is what we are going to be talking about.

Today we’re going to start with the most important piece of the puzzle, the foundation.

Next week we’re going to discuss occupying our community. After that we’ll focus on occupying Hub City Church. The fourth week we’ll discuss the commission from God to occupy the world. And finally, we’ll finish up by having a good friend of mine who is the president of Alex’s House Orphanage talk about our desire to Occupy Haiti.

But all that we’re going to talk about over the next few weeks is going to be meaningless if we don’t start off talking about the real problem. The occupy protesters see the problem as someone else, but they fail to realize that they are a part of the problem. The problem isn’t someone else. The problem is us. The problem is you. The problem is me. We are the problem. So if we’re going to occupy something that matters we better start inside of us. We need to start in our hearts. We need to start by getting things right with God. We need to start by getting ourselves centered and focused on the right priorities.

All throughout the Bible we are told to start with ourselves. We start in our heart. And it’s only when we figure out how to Occupy Me that we can make a true and lasting difference. Let me show you what I’m talking about:

Philippians 2:12-13 says, ¹² Therefore, my dear friends… work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Paul says something extremely profound and helpful here. He says that getting our hearts right, occupying ourselves, doesn’t just happen magically. It has two parts: Our part and God’s part. They go hand in hand. One doesn’t work without the other. They actually work together. As we work out our salvation with fear and trembling God works in us to will and act according to his good purpose. It’s this divine equation almost.

Now, it’s important to remember, we can’t do God’s part. That’s God’s job. But we can do our part. But what is our part? And how do we do our part? How do we work out our salvation with fear and trembling?

1 Timothy 4:7 tells us to train yourselves to be godly. Another translation says to discipline yourself for godliness. In other words, we are told that a disciplined life of good habits leads to godliness. The key to occupying me is the right habits.

But here’s where we run into a wall. If we do an honest assessment of our lives then most of us would admit that we don’t have time to develop any new habits. And this is a huge problem, because, remember, for us to occupy ourselves in a way so that we can occupy something that matters we need to make sure we’re spending our time and energy in activities or disciplines that will get us to where we want to go, but we’re too busy or our lives are too full. So how do we do this?

There’s a passage of Scripture that tells us how. It may be the most practical Scripture that can help us figure out how to Occupy Ourselves, but at the same time, as we’re going to see, it may also be the most difficult Scripture to put into practice because it is going to force us to make a choice and create some space for the habits that lead to godliness.

The passage is found in Hebrews 12:1-2, and it commands us to do this: ¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

I heard a speaker when I was a teenager say that whenever you see the word “therefore” you need to ask: What’s it there for? It’s there because in Chapter 11 you have this incredible chapter all about faith, and what it means to have faith and what faith is. And then it lists out all these great heroes of faith who have gone before us and on whose shoulders we stand. You should read it because it will change what you think about faith. So this says that since we have all of these great examples and great heroes of faith that modeled the way we need to do this:

…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles…

We’re told to throw off two things: everything that hinders and sin. What in the world is “everything that hinders”? They are anything that weighs us down and keeps us from running the race that God has for us. They are things that get in the way, that distract, that hinder us.

I imagine the first century readers picturing the early Olympic athletes who stripped down and ran naked so that they wouldn’t have anything that was weighing them down. There are things in our lives that weigh us down and hinder us. And they aren’t always things that are bad or wrong. They are just things that get in the way and hinder. And if we’re honest our lives are filled with these kinds of things.

Maybe the best way to figure out if something is a weight that hinders is to ask: Does this help me love God and love others?

Is there a weight in your life you need lay aside? Now, I need to be honest with you here. Most of us won’t do this. We won’t. And the reason why we won’t do this is because it’s too hard. We like the clutter in our lives too much to throw it aside. We like being distracted with busyness and activities. And we wonder why our relationship with God isn’t all that we’d like it to be. It’s because our lives are filled with all this stuff and it’s hindering us.

And then the writer says to throw off the sin that so easily entangles. We all know that sin is something that can hold us back. Sin gets in the way of our relationship with God and our relationships with others. And the writer says that this sin entangles. It trips us up. I picture a scene from a movie where a convict is running from the police while wearing those shackles that attack to the wrists and ankles. You know what I’m talking about? Those people can’t run very well. They always get caught or fall to their death off of some bridge somewhere. Sin entangles us like that and keeps us from running the race that God has for us, which is what the writer says next.

Because next he tells us why are we to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles: …and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us….

I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about your life like this before, but life is a race. It’s not a sprint. It’s a long distance race that demands perseverance, or discipline, to complete. It’s a race that will involve effort and commitment. You can’t be passive and run the race. You have to do something. Endurance is needed to run that race.  Endurance or perseverance does not mean the kind of patience that sits down and accepts things, but the patience which masters them. This requires discipline and good habits.

We need to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles so that we can run the race marked out for us, and then finally, in verse two, the writer gives us our goal in verse two.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

It is all about Jesus. Life is all about Jesus. The Christian life is about becoming like Jesus. We become more like Jesus as we focus on him and follow him and obey him. We can only run the race as we look to Jesus, and have our eyes locked on to Him.  He is our focus, our inspiration, and our example.

It is interesting that in the ancient Greek, fixing our eyes on Jesus uses a verb that implies a definite looking away from other things and a looking to Jesus. Which gets to our biggest problem. We can’t do it all. We need to get rid of some things that are keeping us from looking to Jesus.

And the reason why we need to fix our eyes on Jesus is because he is the author and the finisher of our faith. Philippians 1:6 says, He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Fix your eyes on Jesus.

So what are you going to do? I want to give you some suggestions:

Create a stop-doing list. I know I’ve said this before but I think every season we should evaluate our lives and ask, “What do I need to stop doing?” You can’t start doing what it is that you need to start doing unless you stop doing some things. You don’t have time to do it all. And the best way to decide if you should stop doing something is by asking the question I showed you earlier: Does this help me love God and love others?

Are there areas in your life where you are wasting time? Are there habits that are counterproductive? What needs to go on your stop doing list?

I need to warn you here, this is going to take a ton of courage. People may think you’re crazy. It will be way easier for you to stay the same. But if you want something new this year in your relationship with God, if you want to occupy something that matters then you can’t keep doing the same old thing. You need to throw off those things that hinder and the sin that entangles.

So make a “stop-doing” list. I suggest not only making a list, but also sharing that list with someone who can hold you accountable.

But after you figure out some things to stop doing you need to replace those things with activities and habits that will have cumulative impact on your life and get you to where you want to go and make you who you need to be. And these are huge. There are a lot that you could do, but here are two things that I truly believe are the most important habits that you need to incorporate into your life.

Start a Bible reading plan. Time. Place. Plan.

Write down a time.

Write down a place.

Write down a plan.

I’ll tell you what I’m doing. As you can see, I got an iPad for Christmas from my generous sister-in-law. I’ve downloaded the YouVersion app. It has all kinds of reading plans to choose from.

Liz, my wife, is using this Chronological 1 Year Bible. Maybe you just need to start with the Gospels. You could read 5 Psalms a day. Read a Proverb a day. The key is coming up with a plan. Just opening up your Bible and reading wherever isn’t a good idea.

Now, I know that you’ll read things that you don’t understand at first. You may be confused by some of what you read. That’s ok. You’re not weird. Some of the Bible is just plain hard. That’s why you need to do the second thing.

Join a Hub Group. We were made for relationships because it is through relationships that God changes us. Now’s a great time to get involved in a Hub Group. Look at the handout. If you’re not in a group I want you to look down that list and pick one that works with your schedule. Write out on your commitment card which group you want to join.

If we are going to occupy something that matters then it starts inside of us. It starts with us figuring out how to occupy me. And that means getting rid of things that hinder and entangle, and disciplining ourselves with habits that will get us to where we want to go. It start with you. Do something that matters.

 

He will be called – Prince of Peace

If you think about it, Christmas may be the most contradictory holiday that we celebrate as Americans. The season is filled with contradictions

We wear t-shirts that say “keep Christ in Christmas” while standing in line at Walmart with a 42 inch tv, three legos and socks. We’ve got a manger scene set up next to a Santa statue. And I think that’s fine, it’s just a bit contradictory, don’t you think?

Quite possibly the most contradictory statement of this time of year is one that’s everywhere: Peace on earth. I was flipping through the channels this past Sunday night, I think it was, and the Country Music Christmas special was on and they had Vince Gill and Amy Grant talking about the season, and Amy Grant said how Christmas for her was all about peace on earth. Peace on earth is everywhere.

But if we think about it, even though peace on earth may be a goal, even though it may be something we say, for most of us, it’s not reality. It may be the image we have in our head of how Christmas should turn out, but that’s not how Christmas does turn out most of the time, right?

I mean, for most of us, this time of year is a bit chaotic. It begins the day after Thanksgiving with happy shoppers spraying each other with pepper spray in order to get dance-star Mickey.

And then the chaos extends to our schedules during the month of December with all kind of extra holiday activities. If you have kids, they have school parties and programs. And then there are the work/office parties that are always a blast, right? But just the schedule of events during the month of December is enough to drive any sane person crazy. It’s almost over-the-top chaotic.

And then on top of all of that, the shopping the crowds, the crazy schedule, your family shows up, or you go to see your family. And there are certain family members that you are excited to see, but then there’s the rest of your family. And I need to be careful because all of my family is here today, so I’m not talking about you guys, but the rest of you, you’ve got those relative that you wish would text and say they can’t make it. And you would text them back and say, “Man, I hate to hear that,” but inside you’d be celebrating. I mean, family can make this time of year chaotic.

In all honesty, the phrase, Peace on earth, just doesn’t seem to fit with our Christmas experience a lot of the time.  But maybe that’s because it’s not supposed to. Maybe it is because we’re looking for peace in Christmas, or the feeling of Christmas or the experiences of the season, when peace is actually found somewhere completely different. And as we’re going to discover today, peace isn’t found in an event. Peace isn’t found in an experience. Peace isn’t found in an idea. Peace is found in a person. And that person’s name is Jesus.

And that’s who we’ve been talking about for the past three weeks here at Hub City. If you’re new or you missed a few weeks, let me get you caught up on what we’ve been talking about. We’ve been discovering who Jesus really is, and what he’s really like and why it matters to us. Because there are so many different ideas out there about who Jesus is.

And so to help us figure out who Jesus really is and what he’s really like and why it matters to us, we’ve been using a verse that was written 700 years before Jesus was born. It was a verse that was written by the prophet Isaiah predicting who Jesus was and what he would be like and why it matters to us. It’s found in Isaiah 9:6 and it says this:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. 
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

So far we’ve discovered that Jesus is the wonderful counselor who came for sick, hurting and sinful people like you and me. And since that’s the case he invites us to come before him with our burdens, our worries, our anxiety and our cares because he cares for us. And then we talked about how Jesus is the mighty God. He is all-powerful. That no matter what you’re going through, no matter what you’re dealing with, the all-powerful God sees the things that are stressing you out, that are overwhelming to you, and they are not overwhelming to him. They don’t freak God out, because he is all-powerful. We have a God who is bigger than all of our issues and problems and who invites us to trust him. And last week we talked about the image of the everlasting, perfect father. So many of us have images of a father that’s not all that healthy, but Jesus paints the picture of a perfect father, who loves us unconditionally. Who invites us into a relationship with him.

And that leads us to the last description that we’re going to look at today, the Prince of Peace. Now let me ask you: What do you think of when you think of peace? For me, I think of peace as the absence of conflict.

Monday night, my boys spent the night with some friends. All three of them were gone. It was just Liz and I at home and the house was so peaceful. Why was it so peaceful? There was no conflict. Nobody was fighting. Nobody was arguing. It was a peaceful evening.

For me peace is the absence of conflict. But there’s a problem with that because if you think about it, we live in a world that is filled with conflict. Your home is filled with conflict. We have conflict at work. We have conflict in our relationships. For some of you, tomorrow, Christmas Day, is going to be a conflict filled day. Merry Christmas. Thanks for coming to Hub City Church.

Even though the absence of conflict is what I think about when I think about peace, as we’re going to see today, that’s not what Isaiah was talking about when he described Jesus as the prince of Peace. He had something bigger in mind.

So what does it mean for Jesus to be the prince of peace? I mean, if peace isn’t the absence of conflict, what is it?

If you have your Bible’s I want you to look up John 16:33. We’re only going to look at one verse today. It’s a verse where Jesus says something about himself and about this issue of peace that’s so profound and incredible and powerful, but it’s something that we don’t think of.

If you don’t have it we’re going to put it on the screen, the book of John was written by one of Jesus’ closest friends. And what we have in John 16 is the conclusion of a speech that Jesus begins two chapters earlier where he is giving the disciples some last minute teaching right before he is crucified. And in John 16:33 Jesus makes this incredible statement, this incredible claim. And I’m just going to read it for you and then we’ll talk about it.

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

There is so much incredible stuff packed into this one verse. Let’s talk about it.

I have told you these things…

So what had Jesus just finished saying? Jesus had just given a warning, or a heads up to his disciples that basically said, “I’m about to be arrested and put to death, but don’t worry, I’m going to come back to life.”

And here’s why I told you that in advance:

…so that in me you may have peace.

Whoa, whoa, wait a minute Jesus. What do you mean, “In me you may have peace?”

This is an insane statement by Jesus because at that very moment, Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples, was meeting with religious leaders coming up with a plot to arrest Jesus. And Jesus knew that within the next 24 hours He would be arrested, forsaken, rejected, mocked, humiliated, tortured and executed. This is an insane statement that doesn’t seem to make any sense: “I’m about to die a horrible death, but in me you may have peace.”

From what Jesus says here, there is no way that peace could mean the absence of conflict because Jesus was about to experience a ton of conflict. Remember that. We’re going to come back to that. That is very important.

But before we get to that I want you to notice something in Jesus’ statement. Notice that Jesus doesn’t promise peace. He offered it. He said, “you may have peace.” This is huge because it means that a person could miss out on the peace. And he says that it is found in him. We gain the peace Jesus offered by finding it in Him.

In other words, we won’t find real peace anywhere else other than in Jesus. And that’s where we get into trouble. We look for peace from all kinds of places.

Relationships. We look for someone else to meet the needs that only Jesus can meet in us.

Stuff. We think that if we just get the latest “thing” that we’ll be satisfied. But that never works. And the reason I know it never works is because you keep getting stuff and you still aren’t satisfied.

Job. Not your current job, but the perfect job that’s out there somewhere. The perfect job is an illusion.

Finances. We think that if we could just get to a certain income level that we’d have peace.

The problem is that we’re looking for peace is places that peace doesn’t exist. Jesus is clear that peace is found in him. One of my favorite authors, C. S. Lewis, said: God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. Jesus said, …so that in me you may have peace. And then he goes on:

In this world you will have trouble…

Now, taken by itself this is one of those things that Jesus says that we go, “Well, duh, talk about the understatement of the year.” We all know that in this world we will have trouble. We live that every day. But I want you to notice the incredible contrast because in the previous sentence where Jesus offers peace, and then here he promises trouble. You will have trouble. But look what he says next:

But take heart!

Other translations of this say, “be of good cheer.” Another way to think of this is to “have courage.” Why in the world would he say that? He tells us next:

I have overcome the world.

In this, Jesus proclaims an incredible truth that brings everything he said together. In this audatious statement from a man about to be arrested, forsaken, rejected, mocked, tortured and executed, Jesus tells the disciples something that he knew but that they didn’t know. See, Jesus knew that even though he was about to die, that he wouldn’t stay dead. Jesus knew that he was going to come back to life and conquer death. Jesus knew that, even though it didn’t seem that way to his disciples, that even though things were crazy and chaotic and that the world was filled with conflict, Jesus knew that he was going to overcome the world.

And this makes all the difference. This is why we can find peace in him. Knowing that Jesus has overcome the world is what gives us courage. It is the foundation for our peace in Him.

See, peace isn’t found in the absence of conflict. Peace is found in the presence of a person and that person is Jesus, the one who has overcome the world.

And here’s why this matters so much to you and me. You and I, in the middle of our conflict filled lives can find peace in Jesus, the one who has overcome the world. He offers it to us. And it is a peace that has two parts: peace with God and peace with others.

Paul writes in Romans 5:1: Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Sin created a wall between us and God, but Jesus broke down the wall that sin created so that we could be at peace with God.

And you don’t make peace with God by promising to be good or by being perfect, because you can’t do those things. The Bible says you make peace with God through faith, through putting your trust in Jesus.

Not only is peace with God available in Jesus, but Jesus made the way to peace with others: For Jesus is our peace, who has made the both one and broken down the middle wall of division between us. (Ephesians 2:14).

The way we have peace with others is through forgiveness. You cancel the debt that others owe you the same way that God canceled the debt you owe him.

So in light of what we’ve talked about what do you need to do?

Make things right with God by putting your faith in Jesus.

Forgive someone.

Memorize John 16:33

Reading guide

 

He will be called – Everlasting Father

Let’s be honest, many of us are a bit afraid of Jesus because we have this idea in our head that he’s keeping track of all the things we’ve done wrong. And so we think of him as someone who we’re a bit afraid of getting to know. But who is Jesus really? And how does he see us?

That’s why we’re doing this series. We want to find out who Jesus really is, and what he’s really like and why it matters to us. And the verse we’ve been using to guide our discovery of the real Jesus is Isaiah 9:6 which says, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. 
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

This verse, written 700 years before Jesus was born, paints a picture for us of who Jesus is and what he’s like. And so far we’ve discovered that Jesus is the wonderful counselor, the one who came for sick, hurting and sinful people like us. He’s also the mighty God who is all-powerful and trustworthy. Today we’re going to look at the description: Everlasting Father.

Now, I know that for many of you the term father carries with it a ton of baggage, and some of it is not good. But as we’re going to see, the kind of father we’re talking about is the perfect father.

If you have your Bible please turn with me to Luke 15. In Luke 15 Jesus tells three stories that describe who God is and what he is like.  This morning we’re going to look at the third story, which is probably the most familiar story Jesus told.  But before that I need you to get the context of who Jesus is talking to because the crowd that Jesus tells this story to is very important. There are two groups of people in the crowd.

One group of people in the crowd were the tax collectors and sinners. These were people who were the worst of the worst in Jewish society. They weren’t good by any shape of the imagination, but the thing is, that they loved hanging out with Jesus. They loved listening to him speak. They loved having him over for dinner. There was just something about Jesus that was attractive to them. So you have this group of low-life sinners.

On the other side of the crowd you had the Pharisees and religious leaders. These were the religious professionals who followed all the rules. They were the holier-than-thou, I’m-better-than-you kind of people.

So you’ve got this crowd of polar opposites listening to Jesus tell this story about who God is and what he is like and why it matters, these sinful people and these super-religious people. And the story goes like this:

There was a father who had two sons.  And one day his youngest son came to him and said the most unimaginable and disrespectful thing a son could say to a father.  He said, “Father, would you go ahead and give me my inheritance now?”

Time out: Now when Jesus said that I guarantee everybody in his audience just gasped, because for a son, especially the youngest son, to ask for his inheritance before his dad was dead would be like him saying, “Hey dad, would you just pretend that you’re dead for a minute. Cause see, when you die I’m going to get a part of this estate, so let’s me and you pretend you’re dead now. And you just go ahead and give me what I’m going to get when you die.”

And the implication is, “Dad, as far as I’m concerned. You are dead. Dad, as far as our relationship is concerned, you’re dead to me. I think it will be better if I just go ahead and leave and you give me what I have coming to me.”

Now, if you were the father, how would you respond to that request? If it were me I would say, “I’ve got an idea: Let’s just pretend that you’re dead. Because that’s about the most disrespectful thing you could say to me as a father, and if you mention it again your estate is going to get smaller and smaller and smaller every time you bring this up. So get your rear end out there to the barn and shovel manure…”

But that’s not how the story goes. Jesus, in his characteristic way, confuses everyone by saying that the father agreed to the son’s request. He said to the son, “I’ll go and pretend like I’m dead and I’ll give you the estate that you would have coming to you now, before I die.”

So the father gathers the son’s portion of the sheep and the oxen and the camels and the gold and the cash and the whatever he’s going to get anyway, loads it up in an ancient u-haul, and a few days later the son takes off for the city with all the money and stuff his father had spent his life amassing to one day leave to his son.

And so the son goes to a far off place and he sells everything he can sell, he cashes it all in and puts it all in his checking account and he has a party and another party and another party and another party and another party and he gains lots and lots of friends and lots and lots of people know who he is because every week there’s party after party. But he does not work and he does not increase his income and he does not invest his father’s wealth. He just parties and basically spends every single dime of his father’s hard earned money. He spends all of it.

Time out: Now let me stop there because at this point, everybody in Jesus audience is going, “This is a worse case scenario. It couldn’t get any worse. This son asked his father the unthinkable. His father went along with it. And now he left his father’s home, and he has wasted and he has spent all of his father’s hard earned money. It is a worst case scenario.”

Well Jesus goes on with the story and says that after the son had wasted all of his money he needed to get a job, but there was a famine in the land. Which meant that the economy was in shambles and there weren’t many jobs. But he was desperate for a job and the only job he could find was working for this farmer, and Jesus makes it worst case scenario: It was a job feeding pigs.

Time out: Now that’s not a big deal for you and me, but at that point I imagine all of Jesus’ Jewish audience freaking out because pigs were considered unclean animals. I imaging them thinking: “Ugg, we don’t even touch them, much less feed them.”

So, you’ve got to picture this: here’s this Jewish boy in the worst possible place. He’s wasted everything his father had given him. He’s working at the worst possible job. He’s starving. He’s lonely. And he’s stuck.

Well the story continues and things got worse and worse and worse, and one day the younger son, as he’s feeding the pigs, thinks to himself, “You know what, my father has servants, I’m nothing but a servant to this farmer that I don’t even know. My father has servants like this and he treats his servants better than this guy’s treating me. Maybe I can go back home and apply for a job. Maybe I can go back home, not as a son, I mean. That’s over. I lost that. Maybe I can go home and just become a hired hand because any job in my father’s house is better than staying here.”

So he begins to write this speech in his mind of what he’s going to say to his father.  “Father, I’m not worthy to be your son. I bet you knew that. I bet everybody already knows that.  I bet word has gotten to you about what I’ve done with your wealth, so I’m not here to be your son. I’m not here to eat in your house. I don’t want anything but a job and you can give me any job because any job in your estate is better than feeding pigs.”

Now think about it: If you were the father, what would you say to your son if he’d wasted all your money and came back begging for a job? Well, the people in Jesus’ audience were no doubt rehearsing in their minds what they would say to the son if they were the father. And let’s pick up the story in verse 20:

²⁰So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him…

Can I just stop and say this? If you’re a person who is far away from God, when you look in your heavenly Father’s direction, do you know what he feels? Compassion, not anger, compassion. You say, “But you don’t know what I’ve done.” That’s the point to this story. It was as bad as it could possibly be in Jewish culture. This kid had wasted his father’s hard earned money and he’d spent time working with pigs. It couldn’t get any worse, but Jesus said:

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, at which point the Pharisees almost threw up. “He touched???  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.  I know he’s his son, but let’s be realistic Jesus. That kid is so unclean it’s going to take weeks before he can be touched. He’s been with pigs. And I imagine Jesus smiled and said, “and he kissed him. You think it’s bad enough that he ran to him, you think it’s worse that he hugged him. And he kissed him.

Then the son falls on his knees and he goes through his speech, “Father, I have not come here to be your son.  I’m no longer worthy to be your son.  If you’ll just hire me.”  Verse 22:

²²“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

I’m sure the people in Jesus audience were wondering: Whoa, whoa, wait just a minute, Jesus. What do you mean “he was lost and then he was found? No doubt the dad knew where he was, in fact, as we’ll see, not only did he know where he was, he knew what he was doing. What do you mean he was lost?”  And all of a sudden it becomes clear, he wasn’t lost like, “I can’t find my keys.” He was lost like, “Hey, what happened too our relationship?” And the father knew that the relationship was broken long before the son left, that’s why he let him leave. And the sooner he could get the son back, the faster the relationship would be restored, and that was what he was after.

And all of a sudden it starts to sink to this crowd in what Jesus was talking about, “that we have a God, a father, who is obsessed with people who have a broken relationship with him.” In fact, a few chapters later Jesus says this, “You want to know why I’ve come? I’ve come to seek and to save that which was lost:  I’m on a search and rescue mission for those who are relationally disconnected from the Father.” It would be great if the story ended there. But it doesn’t.

²⁵“Meanwhile (and if there was a soundtrack the music would change here), the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

²⁸“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.  (You’ve never focused on me like you’ve focused on that brother of mine.) ³⁰But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes (surely you’ve heard dad, everybody knows) comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ (What’s up with that?  Dad, why are you so focused on the rebellious son? Why are you so focused on the one with the broken relationship?  Why are you so focused on the one who totally walked away from you and wasted what you gave him? Why are you so focused on him and not me?)

³¹” ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead (He was dead to me. He decided to live his life as if I were dead to him. For all practical purposes our relationship was dead.  I couldn’t reconnect with him), and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ “

And that’s the end of the story. Jesus, in this story, illustrates the kind of eternal, everlasting father that we have.

It’s a father that loves us enough to let us go. He’s not one to force himself on us. He doesn’t try to control or manipulate us.

But just because he loves us enough to let us go doesn’t mean he doesn’t long for us to return. Because just like in the story, we have a father who is looking for us and waiting to welcome us back home.

We also have a father who says to those of us who never left, “Everything I have is yours.” He’s the perfect father.

The picture that we see today of Jesus is of a father who loves us unconditionally. No matter who you are or what you have done, we have an eternal father who loves us unconditionally.

And I think that many of you needed to hear that. Maybe you’re learning it for the first time today or maybe I’m reminding you of something you forgot.

And here’s why this matters: Your eternal father invites you to come to him without fear of rejection or ridicule. We are invited into a restored relationship with our heavenly father.

Some of you need to return to the father like the son in the story. I want to give you an opportunity to do that now.

Do I need the love of that kind of Father?

 

He will be called – Mighty God

What do you think of when you think of Jesus? There are so many ideas out there. Some people think he’s all about rules. Unfortunately, that’s the impression that many Christians portray. Some think he’s no fun or is against fun. I mean there are all kinds of ideas about who Jesus is and what he is like and why it matters to us.

That’s why we’re doing this series. As we get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus we’re taking a few weeks to discover who he really is and what he is like and why it matters to us. And to guide us we’re using a verse that was written 700 years before Jesus was born predicting who he would be and what he would be like. It’s found in Isaiah 9:6.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. 
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Last week we talked about Jesus being the Wonderful Counselor, that he is someone who came for sick and hurting and sinful people, and that we can come to him with our weariness, burdens, anxiety and cares because he cares for us.

Today we are going to look at the name or description: Mighty God. The Hebrew term for this is El Gibor. It carries with it the picture of a strong and powerful warrior who easily defeats his enemies.

Maybe you’ve heard the term: Omnipotent. It’s Latin and means “all powerful.”

Jesus is the all-powerful God. We see that illustrated throughout his life.

And I want to tell you a few of those stories out of Matthew 8. These are great examples of Jesus being mighty God. Jesus had just given the sermon on the mount to his disciples, and he comes down off the mountain and there’s this large crowd of curious people who are waiting and wanting to follow him. And then a man with leprosy came up to Jesus and asked Jesus if he would be willing to heal him. And Jesus does an amazing, unexpected thing. Verse 3 says, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.

Get this, Jesus reaches out, touches the man, which was something that you just didn’t do in that day and age. They feared that you could catch the disease by touching a leprous person, but Jesus touches him anyway and tells him to be clean. And all of a sudden he’s cleansed. Can you imagine? It would be like you having a bad case of acne and someone touches your face and all of a sudden you’ve got skin that’s magazine, air-brush clean. That’s some incredible power.

Well, after this amazing miracle, with crowds following him, Jesus heads to the town of Capernaum when he is approached by an officer in the Roman military who asks Jesus to heal his sick servant. Jesus agrees and says “let’s go.” But the Roman officer stops him and basically says, “You don’t need to come to my house. I recognize you have power and authority, so just say the word and I’m sure he’ll be healed.” So what does Jesus do in response to this man’s faith? Verse 13: Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

It’s amazing. In the first instance Jesus touched the leprous guy and told him to be clean. In this instance he does a long distance healing. Jesus has so much power that he doesn’t even have to be in the same room with a sick person in order to heal.

Well, word of these miraculous healings spread through the crowd and around the city, so Jesus tries to get away from the crowd by going to Peter’s house. But when they get there it turns out that Peter’s mother-in-law is sick in bed with a fever. Now, when we get a fever we take a Tylenol and we’re fine, but back then, a fever could kill you. So Jesus does what he’s been doing. Verse 15: He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. This is incredible. The previous two miraculous healings had Jesus saying something. But here, He touches her hand and the fever vanishes. Immediately. Instantaneously. That’s some serious might and power, don’t you think?

Well, like I said, word of these miraculous powers spread throughout the town of Capernaum and look at verse 16:

 ¹⁶ When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.

in other word, crowds of sick and demon-possessed people showed up at Peter’s house and Jesus heals all of them. His power was limitless.

I don’t know about you, but those are some pretty incredible illustrations of Jesus being a mighty God. But there’s one more scene out of Matthew 8 that we have to look at. After Jesus healed all these people, he gave a little mini-sermon and then look at verse 23.

²³ Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.

Jesus was tired. After all that had happened Jesus was taking a little nap.

²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

 ²⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

 ²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Imagine being one of the disciples. You had just spent the day watching Jesus heal all kinds of people. He healed a man with leprosy. He healed a Roman servant from a distance. He healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a debilitating fever with the touch of his hand. He cast demons out of people, and he healed crowds of sick people. And now this? Jesus wakes up from a little cat-nap and rebukes a storm and the storm ends. Talk about power. Talk about a mighty God. Even the wind and the waves obey him.

That sounds pretty all-powerful to me. That’s an incredible display of might and strength. Jesus is the all-powerful, mighty God. I think Matthew 8 clearly demonstrates the prediction from Isaiah 9:6. We could stop here.

But I know some of you have objections to this whole idea. One objection that same of you have is that you have trouble believing in an all-powerful, mighty God because you have trouble believing these miraculous, supernatural displays of power. And I understand that because we don’t really see that in our day. But there was no doubt among the people of Jesus day that these miracles were for real. It’s one of the reasons people were trying to kill Jesus.

Another of your objections is that, in your mind, power is a negative thing. And that’s because when we think of someone with power we usually think of someone who abuses power. We think of a tyrant, a dictator or a corrupt politician. Maybe we think of an abusive or controlling parent, or a boss with a self-esteem problem. And that’s understandable. Power does have the ability to corrupt when used for selfish gains. Power is negative when used to put people down.

But as we’ve seen in Matthew 8, our all-powerful, mighty God used his power not to push people down but to lift people up. In other words, his might is used for our good.

And this has enormous implications for you and me. It implies that we can trust him. We can trust the mighty God who is bigger than our problems and circumstances. We can trust the mighty God who is so powerful that even the winds and waves obey him. Why can we trust him? Because his power is for our good. It always has been. It always will be. You and I are invited to trust Jesus, the Mighty God.

I want to show you another passage in the book of Matthew that clearly illustrates this invitation to trust God. Jesus had just finished another amazing miracle demonstrating his power where he took two fish and five loaves of bread and fed more than 15,000 people. And he was tired and needed some alone time with his heavenly father.

Matthew 14

²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴ but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

 ²⁵ During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.

I don’t know about you, but walking on water is a pretty incredible display of power. Can you imagine being the disciples? You’re rowing away when all of a sudden you see something, or rather, someone, walking towards you on the water. What would be going through your mind?

²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 

They were scared to death. They thought they were seeing a ghost. You’d probably be scared to death too. I know I would.

²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

I love that, “Take courage, it is I. Don’t be afraid.” Yes, Jesus is the mighty God, but do you want to know why it matters to you that Jesus is the mighty God? It matters because whatever you’re going through right now, Jesus, the Mighty God, says to you, “Take courage. It is I. Don’t be afraid.” The Mighty God is with us. There is no need to fear.

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

It’s like Peter was saying, “If it’s really you, and we’re not just hallucinating after a long day and seeing things that aren’t really there… if it’s really you, Jesus, the tell me to come to you on the water.” I love Peter. He’s willing to try anything. And here is Jesus’ invitation.

²⁹ “Come,” he said.

Jesus invited Peter to trust him and to walk out on the water with him. He gives the same invitation to you and to me today. Jesus, the mighty God, says, “Come.” So what does Peter do?

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

I honestly believe that this had to be the most amazing experience of Peter’s life. He actually got to walk on water. And it was all because he trusted Jesus enough to accept his invitation to come. And it would be great if the story ended there. But this is a real story and it’s just like real life.

³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

I think that this is how most of us deal with life. We’re followers of Jesus, and we say we trust him, and we start off trusting him, but when life gets a little out of hand, when things get out of control, when we get distracted with worry and anxiety and fear, what happens? We start to sink, or at least we feel that way.

Now why did Peter start to sink. He took his focus off of Jesus, the mighty God. The same happens to us. Or at least I know it happens to me. I turn my focus off of Jesus and onto my circumstances and when that happens I have this sinking feeling. When we take our focus off of Jesus we start to sink. Some of you feel that way right now.

But look what Jesus did:

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Jesus reached out to rescue Peter, even when Peter wasn’t looking to Jesus. And he basically says to Peter, “Why didn’t you trust me?”

See, Jesus saw the same wind and waves that Peter saw. But they didn’t cause him to sink. We can trust in Jesus. He sees the things that are overwhelming to us, yet he isn’t phased.

 ³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

In other words, Jesus can be trusted. That’s the significance of Jesus being the mighty God.

The same Jesus who healed all those people, who calmed the storm, who walked on water and who rescued Peter is the Mighty God who is with us today.

Jesus gives this invitation to us again in John 14:1 – Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

And that is what I want to invite you to do today. Trust in the Mighty God.

What do you need to trust Jesus with today?

 

He will be called – Wonderful Counselor

I love that video because when it comes to Jesus there are all kind of ideas out there about who he is and what he is like. There many people think that Jesus is like that, that he’s hiding who he really is from us or that he’s too good for us. I’m pretty sure that if I were to survey this room we’d get a number of different ideas about who Jesus is and what he’s like. Well, since there’s so much confusion about Jesus I think it’s time for us to figure out who he really is.

I can’t think of a better time of the year for us to do that than the Christmas season. It’s the time that we celebrate the fact that the God of the universe stepped out of heaven, put skin on and became one of us. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to spend four weeks talking about Jesus.

And to guide us we’re going to use a very familiar passage that you’ve probably heard sometime in your life. It’s a passage that’s been used in Christmas songs. People put it on bumper stickers. But it’s more than a cliché passage. It is an incredible passage that gives us an amazing picture of who Jesus is. If you have your Bible’s I want you to open up to Isaiah 9. If you don’t we’re going to put this verse on the screen for you. Around 700 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah wrote a prediction about Jesus. Here’s what he wrote:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

He will be called…. Now, when your parents named you they hopefully picked a name that had some sort of meaning, or they did what I did and made sure that it was a name that could be said in a stern voice with “no” at the end of it. Well, in the Hebrew language a name is more than just something that you are called. It was a description of your character. And what we have in this verse are some descriptions of Jesus. It’s as if God is saying, “These are the things I want you to know about who Jesus is and what he is like.” He will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, and prince of peace. Over the next four weeks we’re going to look at each of these descriptions.

Today we’re going to focus on the first description or name of Jesus: Wonderful Counselor. In the Hebrew language it is unsure whether this phrase is one description of Jesus or two. Is he a wonderful counselor, or is he wonderful, and a counselor? I think that was intentional because I think it’s a both/and, and we’re going to see both illustrated today as we discover who Jesus is. He’s wonderful, he’s a counselor and he’s the wonderful counselor.

But I know what some of you are thinking. Immediately, when you hear the work “counselor” an image pops into your head, right?

Maybe you think of this: (Karl Rove and Hillary Clinton)

Lucy:

Jack Nickelson from anger management

Larry

I think many of us think of this: (cartoon with counseling)

Well, I want to show you what the phrase Wonderful Counselor really means.

Wonderful – pele’ (peh’-leh); beyond understanding, one who does wonderful things, too wonderful for words.

Counselor – ya`ats (yaw-ats’); to advise; to consult, to guide.

What this is saying is that Jesus is one who is beyond understanding. He is one who does wonderful things. He is too wonderful for words. He is also a guide, advisor and a help.

Let’s look at a couple of other passages that are great illustrations of Jesus being a Wonderful Counselor. The first is found in Luke 5.

Luke 5:27-32

27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

 29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”

 31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

This is incredible. Jesus himself says that he came for sick, messy, sinful people. This flies in the face of what so many people think when the think of Jesus. So many people think that they have to get their act together or be good enough before they can come to God, but that’s not what Jesus said. He said that he came for messy people, sick people, people who have needs.

I think if we’re really honest, that something inside of us lights up when we hear that about Jesus because we know we’re sick. We know we’ve messed up. We know we’ve got a past. We know that if we would have been there in Jesus day that we would be in the group that the Pharisees called “sinners.” And to discover that Jesus came for people like us… it sparks something inside of us. Or at least it does for me. I am so grateful that Jesus didn’t come for good people who have their act together. I’m so thankful that he came for sick people who need a savior.

Jesus says to us: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” That’s who he is. That’s pretty wonderful, don’t you think?

Let’s look at another passage. It’s from the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 4:15 says:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,

Some of you grew up in a church tradition that had priests and you know that a priest is one who is a mediator between God and the people. Well, the Bible teaches that if you are a follower of Jesus that you are a priest. That means that you don’t have to go through anyone to get to God, but because of what Jesus has done for you that you can go directly to God. But at the same time because of what Jesus has done for us in dying on the cross and raising from the dead, he is our high priest, the one who is our authority. Jesus is the one that makes it possible for us to come to the father. That’s who he is.

And this says that Jesus is one who can sympathize with you and me. The ancient Greek word for sympathize means “to suffer along with.” That means that Jesus understands, he knows what we are going through. He’s been there, done that. The passage continues:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.

What this is saying is that Jesus knows what it is like to be tempted and to battle against the temptation to sin, but at the same time He was without sin. Jesus is one who understands sin and temptation. He understands the cause of sin. He understands the consequences of sin. He understands. Yet he was without sin, which means that he can help. His counsel is not colored by sin. Since Jesus is like this, one who can sympathize with us,

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

If you think about it, this is beyond incredible. This says that we, messed up, sinful, unrighteous, messy, flawed people–all of us–can come before the throne of the holy, righteous, creator of the universe. And when we do we won’t get condemnation, ridicule or shame, but because of Jesus, we will receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Let that sink in for a minute. How many of you need mercy and grace? We all do. If you didn’t raise your hand you are lying. We can come before the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

That’s who Jesus is. And I think many of you need to come to him. If you were in need of a counselor, which many of you are and you’re just afraid to admit it, then wouldn’t you want to go to one who was understanding, who was for messed up people and who welcomed messed up people, who could relate, and who would give out mercy and grace to help?

Since that’s the case. Since Jesus came for sick and messy people. Since we have a high priest who understands. Here’s what we can do. Look at what Jesus says:

Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Are you weary? Are you carrying burdens? I think that all of us could say yes at one level or another. Jesus invites us to come to him to find rest.

1 Peter 5:7 – Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

In the Greek, the term translated “all” means “all.” That means that you and I have been invited to bring every frustration, fear and struggle to God. There’s nothing too big, nothing too small. We can bring them all. That means you don’t have to begin your prayers with, “I know I shouldn’t feel this way, but…” or “I know this may sound petty, but…” or “I know I should be more mature than this, but…” or I know that in the grand scheme of things this is really small, but…”. None of that is necessary. And here’s why: If it’s important to you, then it’s important to God. Because you are important to God.

We have a savior who cares deeply and personally for us. He is not distant and uncaring, but invites us to come to him with our anxiety, our worry, and our cares.

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. Psalms 55:22

What do you need to cast on Jesus? What cares are you lugging around that you need to cast on the Lord?

I want to invite you to cast your cares on Jesus, our wonderful counselor this morning. I want to invite you to cast your anxiety on Jesus, our wonderful counselor. Jesus invites you who are weary and burdened to come to him this morning.

I want to give you some time and space to do that. Will you bow your heads? You have a wonderful counselor named Jesus who is inviting you to come to him with your burdens, your cares and your anxiety. Do that right now. Talk with him.

 

This is only a test – week 3

One thing that amazes me about kids is how much they want to grow up. They do. They can’t wait to get older. Like kids won’t say they are 5. They’ll say they are 5 and a half. I can guarantee you won’t hear me saying I’m 37 and a half. I don’t want to be closer to 40. But kids can’t wait to grow up. They do everything they can to speed it up.

And as a parent, I want my kids to grow up. I wanted them to learn how to feed themselves and to move from using diapers to using the toilet. I love reading them stories, but I want them to learn to read on their own. I don’t mind driving them places, but eventually, I want them to learn how to drive. I want my kids to grow up to be self-supporting, mature adults who contribute meaningfully to society. And so, to help them get there, I push them into uncomfortable situations to help them grow. I won’t allow them to stay in first grade for four years. I add to their responsibilities as they grow older so that they can learn how to do things on their own.

It’s the same way with God. God wants us to grow up too.

But when it comes to our spiritual life and our relationship with God, if we’re not careful, instead of being like kids who can’t wait to grow up we’re more like that old Toys R Us commercial that said, “I don’t want to grow up. I’m a toys r us kid.” And it’s not like we intentionally say, “I don’t want to grow up spiritually.” We just either get busy and distracted or we don’t know how to grow spiritually.

So the question for us is: How do we grow up, or mature spiritually? Well, as we’ve discovered throughout this series, God grows us through tests. God tests us on a regular basis, and the point behind those tests is our spiritual growth.

And so far we’ve talked about two tests that God gives us. We talked first about the trust test which says: Do we trust God enough to take him at his word.

Last week we talked about the bless test: Do I trust God enough to obey him before he blesses me. We say, “if you bless me, I’ll obey you”, but God says, “If you obey me. I will bless you.”

Today I want to show you the reason why God gives us these tests. Believe it or not, but God tests us in order to help us grow. Which means, as we pass the trust test and the bless test and other tests it opens the door for us to grow.

It’s kind of like in school where you have to pass certain tests to make it to the next grade or to graduate. Or having to pass the driver’s test so that you can drive legally. It’s the same way in life. We have to pass certain tests to grow up in our faith.

Look at what Jesus says about this in Matthew 25:21 – You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.

James, the brother of Jesus, says it this way in James 1:2-3 – 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

This is such a powerful passage. You need to memorize these three verses. But I want us to look at them again.

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds… Now, let’s just admit, that’s a bit odd. It’s like he’s saying, “Look forward with anticipation to the plethora of tests and trials that are going to come your way. Like a kid opening their presents at Christmas, that’s how you should look at the trials and tests in life.” That’s crazy, isn’t it? It is if you stop the sentence there, but James goes on.

3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

We’re not to look forward with anticipation to trials and tests because we’re a glutton for punishment. No, we’re to consider it pure joy because there’s something beneficial that is going to happen in our life is as a result of tests and trials. Notice that this says that the reason we’re tested is so that our faith may develop perseverance and that perseverance must finish it’s work so that we can be what? So that we can be mature and complete, not lacking anything. In other words, God tests us to grow us up.

But I want to be honest with you. I’m worried that there are many Christians, and maybe some of us, who may not grow up. We may stay Christian infants because you’re not passing the tests. I say this because I know so many people who’ve been Christians for such a long time and they still live like spiritual babies. They’ve prayed a prayer some time in their past so that they could get out of hell, but they’ve never grown up.

It reminds me of Stanley Thornton. Look at this video. Have you heard about the guy who is living his adult life like a baby? Stanley is a 29-year-old man who sleeps in a crib, sucks on a pacifier, drinks from a bottle, wears diapers, and eats in a high chair. He chooses to live his life as an “adult baby” with the help of his friend and roommate Sandra, who essentially role plays as his mother. The pair were featured on last night’s episode of National Geographic’s Taboo, which focused on “fantasy lives.” Stanley says that his infantilism is not based out of any sexual desire, but rather of one to be nurtured. He explains “adult baby” role playing as a way of blowing off steam from a stressful day of work.

That’s disturbing, isn’t it? When I first saw that I almost vomited. We laugh at people like this. We say they aren’t normal. But you want to hear something that’s equally disturbing? I think the church in America is filled with Christian infants. We want someone to feed us, serve us, cater to us and meet our needs. And I think to God we look like Stanley Thornton. But it’s time to grow up.

So that leads to an important question: How do we grow up? We pass the tests that God gives us. Remember what James said: The testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

And how do we pass the tests God sends our way so that we can grow up? In one word: Obedience.

Obedience is the key to maturity. Obedience is the key to passing the tests that God gives us. We see this all throughout the Bible. It’s not knowledge, not church attendance, not longevity that grow us, but obedience that leads to maturity.

Look at what Jesus said four times in John 14 about the importance of obedience.

15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.

21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.

23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.

24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.

It seems to me that obedience was a big deal to Jesus. It’s how we show Jesus we love him.

James even said it. James 1:22-25 - 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Obedience is the key to passing the tests that God gives us, which leads to growing in maturity as followers of Jesus. And since that is the case I want to give you some practical ways that you can obey God and grow your faith, because that is what I want for you. I want you to grow in your faith. So let me give you a few things that you can put into practice this week so that you can pass the tests that God gives us.

Read your bible. Reading the bible is so important for a number of reasons. First, it’s how you learn to feed yourself. If you want to grow then you need to learn to feed yourself. You do that by reading the Bible and obeying what God says to you through it. We believe that the Bible is more than an ordinary book. The Bible is the book that God wrote. It’s also by reading God’s word that we learn what it is that he wants us to do. We’ve given you something today that will help you get started in this habit or take it to the next level. In your bulletin is an Advent Reading Guide. Advent is the season leading up to Christmas. And so what I’ve given you is a reading guide to focus you on Jesus for the next few weeks. Our next series is going to be all about Jesus and you can incorporate these readings into your daily quite time, or do what we’re going to try and do and read them daily as a family. Reading the Bible is foundational for your maturity.

Hub Group. Now I know that the phrase “Hub Groups” wasn’t in the Bible, but the Bible tells us to meet together, to do life together. The Bible is clear that we cannot do the Christian life on your own. Sure, we can try, but we’re going to end up missing something. If you’re not in a Hub Group you need to sign up for one today.

Loving one another. I heard someone say one time that the Christian life is all about learning to love God and others. Jesus said that in Matthew 22:37-39 that the greatest commandment was: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ I think a great test you can give yourself is to do some self-evaluation on how you are doing with loving others. But too often, instead of loving others we just run. But I want you to learn to love on another. That’s another reason why being in a hub group is so important. It puts you in a relational environment where you can learn to love others.

Serving: A hallmark of a maturing Christian is that they serve. Jesus said he didn’t come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Serving one another is where God does a supernatural work in our hearts turning our focus away from ourselves towards others. And now is a great time to serve. Our kids are modeling the way with this by giving you and I a simple service project. They are doing a canned food drive. The three and four year olds are leading this! Amazing. But that’s a simple way for you to serve. But there are all kinds of ways to serve.

Tithe. I’ve received more pushback during this series about this issue than anything else. And that’s ok. You’re not hurting my feelings. But if you’re pushing back about this then I want you to ask yourself a question: What is it in me that pushes back against this idea? Have a conversation with God about it and listen. Don’t take my word for it. Listen to God and do what he says. I believe that being obedient in this one area will open the door for you to be obedient in other areas of your life, but being disobedient in the arena of your finances makes it more difficult to be obedient in other areas of life. And the reason why is because like Jesus said in Matthew 7:21 – Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And we want to make it easy for you to obey God is this area. That’s why we’ve given you this Giving Guarantee.

Say thank you: 1 Thess. 5:18 says to Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I know we just celebrated thanksgiving, but for the most part we live in a thankless society. But giving thanks reminds us that it’s not all about us. It breaks us of a sense of entitlement and jealousy. So, write a thank you note. Tell someone thank you. Gratitude will lead to growth and maturity.

Obedience is key to you passing the tests God gives you so that you can grow up in the faith.

I don’t want you to end up like a spiritual Stanley Thornton. That’s been the whole point of this series. I want you to pass the tests that God give you so that you can grow up to be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

 

This is only a test – week 2

Welcome to week 2 of This is only a test. I don’t know about you, but when I was in school I never really got worked up about tests. I know some of you did. But tests never really bothered me much. But what we started talking about last week is that every day, whether we realize it or not, you and I are being tested by God. And that freaks me out a bit because it’s a big deal. And I don’t want to fail that test. And I don’t want you to fail that test.

Last week we talked about the most foundational test that God gives us. The trust test: Do I trust God enough to take him at his word. Even when it goes against what I think I should do, do I trust God enough to take him at his word? Many of you made commitments that will enable you to pass the trust test.

Well, today I want to follow up on the trust test by talking about a test that all of us face on a regular basis.

This test goes all the way back to Abram in Genesis 12. And what we’re going to see in Genesis 12 is God giving Abram a test that opens the door for God to do something incredible in Abram’s life.

¹ The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 

I love this. God basically says to Abram, “I want you to start out in that direction, and keep walking, and when we get there I’ll tell you that you’re there.” Can you imagine? Start walking and I’ll tell you when you’re there.

And then in verse two he says, ² “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; 
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

Now think about this, Abram is 75 years old. At this point in his life he is childless. His wife Sarah is way past the childbearing years. How in the world is God going to make them into a great nation? He doesn’t even have a kid.

Nothing about what God is saying to Abram in these two verses adds up. It made no sense whatsoever. God didn’t tell Abram where he was going. God didn’t tell Abram when he was going to fulfill this promise to bless him. God just said, “start walking and I’m going to bless you.” So how does Abram respond? It is one of the most shocking steps of faith in the entire Bible. Verse 4.

So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.

Wow. He just left. He trusted God enough to obey him, even with so much uncertainty and so much ambiguity and so much fuzziness about where he was going and how God was going to accomplish what he said he was going to accomplish.

Which leaves me wondering: How in the world was Abram able to trust God like he trusted God?

I think it goes back to verse 2: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; 
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

What we see in verse two is that God gives Abram an incentive. God said, “I will bless you. I will reward you. If you follow me, I will bless and reward you.”

This is huge. I think if we’re honest, when we think about all of the commands that God gives us throughout the Bible most of the time we focus only on the command at we forget about the promise, the reward and the blessing that comes from obeying that command. But there is always either a promise, reward or blessing.

Basically God says that there will be a reward and benefit for doing things his way. God promises Abram that he will make him into a great nation. He says he will bless him.

I don’t know if you realize it or not, but there are incentives, or rewards for following Jesus. We don’t really think about that a lot, but it’s true. God wants to reward and bless us for following him.

But here’s the tricky part. God had promised to bless Abram, but when he started walking Abram had not received any of the blessing or reward yet. Abram trusted God enough to obey him before he received the blessing.

And this is one of the most common tests that we face on a daily basis. I call it the Bless Test: Do I trust God enough to obey him before he blesses me?

In all honesty, I think that many of us are missing out on the blessings of God because we’re failing this test. I think many of us have mediocre experiences with Christianity because we’re failing this test.

The reason why we’re missing out is because rather than responding the way Abram did, we respond backwards. What we do on a regular basis is give God a test, and it goes like this:

God, if you will _________. I will ________.

Have you ever prayed that prayer? God if you will just get me out of this, rescue me from this, keep so-and-so from finding out about this, then I promise I’ll never…. God if you get me out of this financial mess then I promise I won’t get into debt again. God if you give me a spouse I promise I won’t struggle with lust again. God, if you increase my income, then I’ll begin to tithe.

Basically we say, “God, if you will bless me then I’ll start obeying you.”

What we need to understand is that God doesn’t work that way. God doesn’t play that game. God doesn’t let us manipulate him into action.

What we don’t realize is that God is giving us the same test: If you will _______. I will ________. There are just different fill-ins.

God says, If you will obey me. I will bless you.

The question is: Do I trust God enough to obey him before the blessing comes.

This is a pattern that we see over and over again in Abram’s life. We see it over and over again throughout the Bible. God says, “If you obey me. I will bless you.” This is the pattern of how God tests us.

God’s blessing is contingent upon our obedience. Some of you are wondering why you’re not experiencing more blessing from God. Let me ask you: Are you being obedient to God? Are you doing what God is calling you to do? Are you obeying the commands that you know about from the Bible? God says, “If you obey. I will bless you.” Let me show you a few places where he says this.

Look at Deuteronomy 28

¹ If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. ² All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

 ³ You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

 ⁴ The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

 ⁵ Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

 ⁶ You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

 ⁷ The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

 ⁸ The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

 ⁹ The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.

Matthew 6:14-15 – For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. If you forgive, God will forgive.

Joshua 1:7-8 – Be strong and very courageous. 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.

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Malachi 3:10-12 – Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. If you tithe, God will bless.

By the way: Some of you took the Giving Guarantee. I’m so excited because 13 individuals or families said, “I’m going to trust God with my finances enough to do what he says and tithe. I’m not sure how it’s going to work out, but I’m trusting God.” Can I tell you, I can’t wait to see how God is going to bless your obedience. Some of you need to join these people and obey his command so that he can bless you. You can fill out the Giving Guarantee card today.

2 Chronicles 7:14 – 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.

Matthew 4:19 – “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

I believe many of us are missing out on the blessings of God because we’re refusing to do what it is that he’s telling us to do.

So, what is God telling you to do?

What are those areas in your life where you’ve given God the test instead of trusting him enough to do what he says?

If you want God to bless you, then you need to obey him.

We have some who are being obedient to God by going public with their faith through baptism today.

 

This is Only a Test – week 1

We’re starting a new series today called This is only a test. And let me ask, how many of you remember listening to the radio or watching TV when all of a sudden the screen goes blank and this annoying sound comes out of the TV and then there’s this monotone voice that comes on and says, “This is a test of the emergency broadcasting system, this is only a test.” How many of you have seen that?

I don’t know if you know this, but this past Wednesday, there was a nationwide test of the emergency broadcasting system. And I learned this, but the emergency broadcasting system was developed by the Kennedy administration to warn people of the threat of nuclear war.

See, these tests is that they were designed to prepare us for some danger that may be headed our way and to teach us what to do in response to those dangers.

Well, I don’t know if you realize it or not, but every day, you and I are being tested. And many of the tests that you and I experience on a daily basis are actually sent by God. God puts us through test. I know that might sound strange, but the Bible makes it clear that God is continually testing you and me. Let me show you.

Duet. 13:3, The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Many of us say we love God, but it is our actions that communicate that. God tests us to see if we love him.

Job 7:17-18, What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, that you examine him every morning and test him every moment?

This means that all of life is a test.

John 6:5-6, When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him…

Now, God doesn’t test us to make our lives miserable, but as we’re going to discover, God tests us to prepare us for what lies ahead and to teach us how to respond.

God gives us tests to see if we really trust him, if we’ll rely on him, if we really believe that he is who he says he is and that he’ll do what he said he will do.

So, over the next three weeks we’re going to look at three tests that God gives you and me. Now, I need to say, that these tests were given to God’s people. That means that these tests are for Christians, for followers of Jesus. If you’re here this morning and you’re not all that religious and you are for sure that you’re not a Christian then this is a great series for you to be a part of because you are going to learn something about God and what he expects from those of us who do choose to follow him.

And I thought today we’d start with the mother of all tests.

It’s what I call the Trust Test: Do we trust God enough to take him at his word?

I think God says to each of us: I know you say you love me. I know you say you trust me, but do you trust me enough to take me at my word, to follow my commands, to follow my wisdom? Do you trust me enough to obey what I say in my word?

If I were to ask, “How many of you trust God?” Most every hand in here would go up. Most of us say we trust God, that is until he tells us to do something that we don’t want to do.

But God tests us to see if we really trust him. Do I trust God enough to take him at his word even when he thinks I should go a different way, respond a different way, live a different way than I think I should live?

See, it’s one thing to say we trust God. It’s an entirely different thing to actually trust him.

Let’s look at a few examples of the trust test.

Let’s start off with Baptism. I’m so excited that we’re going to be baptizing some people next week. And we’ve talked about it before, but baptism is a visible, public demonstration of the private decision that we’ve committed our lives to follow Jesus. And the Bible teaches, and Jesus models, that we need to go public with our faith through baptism. It let’s the world know who we follow and who we’re living our lives for. And many of you have gone public with your faith through baptism.

But there are some of you here today who have made the private decision to follow Jesus, but are having this conversation with God, “Do I have to do this? Do I have to go public? That’s kind of out there. It might be embarrassing. What’s my family going to think? People think I did this a long time ago. I was baptized as a baby.” The truth is, there are a good number of us that care more about what other people think and say about us than we do about what God thinks and says about us. And we don’t realize that when we say our way is better than God’s way that we’re failing the trust test. We say we trust him, but we don’t trust him enough to take care of what others think when it comes to baptism. Baptism is a trust test.

Let’s talk about another command. It’s one of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:8, Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. The word Sabbath literally means rest. We’re taught throughout the Bible that we are to work for six days and we are to rest one. But contrast that with our society. We live in a society that doesn’t know how to rest. We think we can accomplish more in 7 days of work on our own than God can accomplish through us in six days if we trust him by obeying this command. We say we trust God, but we don’t trust him enough to do what he says and rest. Remembering the Sabbath and resting is a trust test.

When I think about someone who trusted God enough to take him at his word on this I think of Truett Cathy at Chick-fil-a. Everybody told him that it would be impossible to have a fast-food business that was closed on Sunday, but he proved the world wrong. God has protected and blessed his business because he passed the trust test.

Let’s look at relationships for a minute. Do we trust God enough to take him at his word in what he says about relationships?

Let me talk to the kids for a minute. The Bible teaches us to honor our parents. Exodus 20:12, “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. It’s a command of God that goes along with do not murder and do not steal. Which means it’s a big one. And the test you face, is that when you’re parents tell you “no, you can’t go, you can’t stay, you can’t do that, you can’t hang out with them,” do I trust God enough, not my parents, but do I trust God enough to take him at his word and do what he says and obey my parents. See, the Bible says that if I honor my parents God will take care of me. Even if they are clueless. Even if you don’t think they understand. Even if they’ve lost touch with human society. God will protect me. My responsibility is to take him at his word. Honoring your parents is a trust test.

Let me talk with married couples for a minute. Do we trust the gift that God has given us in marriage enough to take him at his word. Matthew 19:6 says So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. But sometimes we believe the lie that says we might be happier if we just got out? Do we believe the lie that says we’d be happier with them, if we flirted with them, exchange some fun facebook stuff with them? Or do we trust God enough to take God at his word and to do what he says. Do we trust God enough to work it out and stick it out?

Another thing: Hebrews 13:4, Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

This is for marrieds and singles. And basically this is saying: Do we trust God enough to save sex for marriage? I’m not saying this is easy. What I am saying, is that for those of us who are followers of Jesus, we are called to a different standard when it comes to our sexuality. And it’s a test. Saving sex for marriage is a trust test.

And let me say that I’m not saying this to make anyone feel guilty for something that happened in their past. I’m saying this so that from this point on, you’ll make the commitment to trust God enough to take him at his word and do what he says.

Let’s talk about forgiveness. Paul writes in Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Many of us are held captive by grudges, by anger, by something that someone did to us. But do we trust God enough to take him at his word and forgive those who have wronged us? I believe God is testing many of you with this.

Let’s think about finances for a minute.  I don’t know of any better visible, measurable demonstration of trusting God than with our finances. You can literally count it up to see if I truly trust God enough to take him at his word. For example, do I trust God enough to take him at his word to do what he says in Malachi 3:10

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Tithe means tenth. This is so simple. If we take the first 10% of our income and give it to God like he says in this passage, we trust him. If we don’t, we don’t. If you don’t tithe you don’t trust God. It’s true. I didn’t come up with it.

And if you go on a read Malachi 3:11 you’ll discover that he says he will protect us if we’ll trust him on the front end with our tithe.

And here’s the deal. I want to help you with this. Seriously. I want to help you learn to trust God in this area because I think this one issue of finances either keeps us from obeying God in other areas of our lives, or it open the door for us to trust God more.

I want to pass out something. It’s called the Giving Guarantee card. We want to give you an opportunity to test God. Look at the verse again: Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. God tells us to test him in this. I want to give you a way to test God. It’s called the giving guarantee.

Giving Guarantee.

Malachi 3:10

My part: By God’s grace I will contribute 10% of my income for the next 90 days to God through Hub City Church.

God’s part: To bless me according to Malachi 3:10

Hub City’s part: If at the end of 90 days God has not provided for my needs (not my wants!), Hub City Church will refund to me all that has been contributed during that period of time.

I want you to know, we are 100% committed to our part. Now, as you do your part I’m not saying that God is going to give drop a new BMW out of the sky into your garage or cause you to with the lottery. I’m not saying you’re going to experience a financial windfall. I’m talking about God providing for your needs and protecting you and he will bless you. Not all blessings are financial.

I know this works because I’ve seen it work in my life. I believe that if I trust God with the 10% that he will provide for me. He always has. I’m not asking you to do something that I don’t already do. Liz and I have been tithing our entire married life. So, do you trust God enough to do what he says when it comes to your finances.

Do you trust God enough to take him at his word. Taking God at his word, that’s what it means to pass the trust test. We have to talk about this because I don’t think many of us trust God as much as we say we do.

We make up our own rules. We do things our own way. But for those of us who are followers of Jesus, we’ve laid down our rights and lives and taken up the Jesus way. We’ve submitted ourselves to his authority. That’s what it means to follow Jesus. He’s our leader. He’s our ruler. We don’t make up our own rules anymore. That’s why we need to trust God and completely take God at his word.

This is why it is so important that we read his Word. That’s why I’m going to be sending out daily email devotions that go along with this series. If you’re not on our church’s email list please circle your email on the commitment card.

Life is a test. It’s a test that God wants us to pass. And we pass the trust test by trusting God enough to take him at his word.

But let me tell you, the trust test isn’t only a test, it’s the mother of all tests. It’s the root of all other tests. I think you can describe Christianity in two words: Trust and obey.

Here’s the commitment I want you to make: I want to pass the trust test by _________. Put that on your comment card.

• Some of you need to trust God for the first time for your salvation by surrendering your life to him.
• Be baptized.
• Pull out the giving guarantee.