“The Restoring God”
1st Sun. of Advent- Hope
11/30/08; Psalm 80:1-7
Introduction: A couple of seasons ago Tyler and I went with my brother to a Dodger game. They were playing the Atlanta Braves, and it was a close game. But in the seventh inning the Braves scored a couple of runs to take a lead. It was a school night, so I looked at Tyler and said: “I think we should get you home, I don’t think the Dodgers are going to win today.” But Tyler looked at me with eyes of hope and said: “Dad, they could still come back and win. Could we please stay?” So I said yes, and the game continued in the seventh, and the eighth, without the Dodgers scoring, and the time getting later. But in the ninth inning, one of the Dodgers hit a 3-run homerun to win the game!
On this first Sunday of Advent we talk about Hope./ And what is hope? Hope is not quitting. Hope is going on in the midst of challenges all around us. Hope is believing in a good outcome even though you can’t understand how that might happen. Hope is seeing ourselves struggling along, only to have God come and restore wholeness to our lives. Hope is God making beautiful music out of our selfish, sinful lives.
I. The Shining Face of God- (Psalm 80:1-3; Philippians 4:4)
a. Give ear- There are many people in this world that have no hope. And
the first reason that they have no hope is that they have no one to turn to for help. In this society that encourages individualism and a do-it-yourself attitude, so many people have stopped relying on others. Did you know that sometimes just telling someone your troubles is helpful? When you keep things to yourself, it can eat at you and frustrate you more. We have been created to be in relationship with others; and that includes sharing our troubles with each other.
I know that many people think that when you share your troubles with another, you are being a burden to them. I have had many people tell me that they don’t come to talk with me because they don’t want to burden me with their troubles. But the truth is, if someone cares for you at all, then they will not be burdened by your sharing, but will welcome the opportunity to be there for you.
Even more than that, our hope should reside in the fact that the God of this universe, the creator of all things, allows us to bend His ear. We have the availability of God to us anytime, any day! This brings hope, because we know that not only is God willing to listen, God has the capabilities of helping us once we give Him our troubles. We can call out to God for help and ask for God’s favor.
b. Stir up Your might- This leads us to the second reason why many
people have no hope, and that is because they have no one who is capable of doing anything about the troubles in their life. I know that there are many times in my life that people come to me and share their struggles. I hear what they have to say, and I struggle with them. But I know that I can’t physically do anything to ease their pain. I cry out to God: “O God, what am I to do for this person?
Example- There is a movie that came out a number of years ago called “Bruce
Almighty,” starring Jim Carrey.” In this movie a man named Bruce is given the
opportunity to be God for a day. In one scene in the movie, Bruce is sitting before his computer, and he hears the familiar phrase, ‘you’ve got mail.’ As he checks his e-mail he sees that he has 1 million prayer requests. He opens the first, reads it, and then answers it as he sees fit. But then his prayer request list jumps to 3 million! In frustration he answers yes to all the requests. There is pandemonium because of all this. Bruce then goes to see God, and God explains that it is not good for everyone to have their prayers answered as they desire. One example of this is that Bruce answered yes to a woman to receive some money. But the plan was for her to have to go to her sister for help (her sister to which she was estranged). By going to her sister the relationship would have been restored.
We need to be reminded that we can’t always do it on our own, or we can’t always help each other, but we have a God who has insight and who can help us in ways we might never understand. There is hope in knowing that we have a God of strength available to us.
c. God’s shining face- A third reason people feel like they have no hope
is that they don’t have anyone who is there for them. If you have ever seen a family that generally gets along and supports each other, you will see a group of people who are basically content with life. This doesn’t mean that they don’t have problems in their family. And it doesn’t mean that they don’t have problems in their lives. But because they have a strong support system, they have a healthy and positive outlook on life.
Why is this? Well, it is because sometimes, more than having our problems taken away, more than having someone to talk to, it is important to know that there is somebody who is always there for you. Sometimes the ministry of presence is the most important ministry of all. What is the ministry of presence? It is just being present for someone in a time of need. Maybe you hear that somebody is in the hospital. You can’t make them better. There are probably no words you could say that would take away their troubles. But you choose to go and be with them anyway. You know what? That is the ministry of presence, and is probably the best thing you could do for them.
When we know that we have people in our lives that are just there for us, then that brings a lot of peace and calmness to our lives. That is why it is good news, news of hope, to know that God’s shining face is always there for us. Even when we don’t feel like God is at work, just knowing that God is present in our lives is wonderful. That is why the apostle Paul could say the words in Philippians 4:4- “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice.” Paul rejoiced because he knew that God was always with Him!
II. The Restoring God- (Psalm 80:4-7; Mark 11:15-17; Hebrews 12:9-10)
a. Is God angry? (…The Tardy Oxcart, p. 33- Thomas Jefferson once
said: “When angry count to ten, if very angry count to a hundred.” Mark Twain said it this way: “When angry count to four, if very angry, swear.”) There is some good advice there, and that is when we are angry, we will usually respond quickly in inappropriate ways. Mark Twain didn’t count high enough, and his response was to swear! To count to ten….or one hundred, helps us to let our anger diminish before we respond.
Unfortunately, we think that God gets angry with us in the same way that we get angry with others. We believe that God wants to be harsh with us. We believe that God will have trouble accepting what we’ve done and won’t want to forgive us. But the good news is that God does not get angry in the same way we do. As the psalmist asks in Psalm 80:4- “O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?”/ In other words, they think that God isn’t answering their prayers because God is angry. And as long as God is angry in this way, then we have no hope, because we have lost access to God’s presence.
But God does not get angry in the way we get angry. An example of God’s anger is how Jesus responded in the market place in the gospel of Mark, chapter 11. In this chapter Jesus entered the market place that was set up in front of the temple. Jesus’ anger came from seeing how the sellers were taking advantage of the people by telling them that they had to buy certain things before they could enter the temple. Jesus’ anger was not that of un-forgiveness, but that of wanting to wake the people up to their wrong and hurtful behavior.
Example: I know that sometimes I have to raise my voice to my children, get a little angry with them, to get their attention and wake them up to what they need to do... This is true of God as well. His anger toward us is for the purpose of waking us up to what we need to stop doing so that we might start doing the right things.
b. Does God punish? The psalmist continues in verse 6 when he says,
“You make us the scorn of our neighbors…” The psalmist believes that God is punishing His people, and by His punishment, they have been scorned before others.
So we might ask, does God punish? And the answer is “yes.” God does punish us. As we are told in the book of Hebrews 12:9-10, “Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness.”/
Example- Believe it or not, there are times when Tyler or Tiffany will do something wrong. Maybe they are talking back to us and giving us a poor attitude and not doing what they need to be doing. Or maybe they lie to us. When this happens, it would not be good for us to let it pass without some kind of appropriate discipline. So we might take away the computer, or their TV time, or their gameboy. We don’t do this to hurt them, but rather to help them learn how to behave and respond in life. The discipline is for their good.
You see, God doesn’t discipline us for the purpose of harming us in any way, or trying to embarrass us before others, but for the purpose of helping us to be more holy; for the purpose of bringing long term hope to our lives.
c. Restore us God- When we are undisciplined, we have little hope for
good. That is why we as parents challenge and discipline our children. We discipline them not to hurt them, but to help them follow a good and right path. It is even more true for God. Any punishment that might come our way is to bring us back to a right place with God and with our lives.
You might not feel lost. You might not see how you have gone astray. But
the truth is that all of us are choosing our own path daily. And because of this, all of us need some extra discipline in our lives. We need the discipline that God brings to us so that we might be restored.
If you were your own parent, and you looked at your life, and the way you are living, and the decisions you are making, and the type of commitment that you have towards God, where might you discipline yourself? What is causing you to distance yourself from God?
The whole point of Psalm 80 was a cry to God for God’s face to be seen, and for the people to be in a right relationship with God. That is why the psalmist twice said, in verses 3 and 7- “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”
Conclusion: “At the Counter,” Stories for the Heart, p. 47
There is a story of a woman, Paula Kirk, who had to visit her daughter
over her Easter vacation. It turns out that her daughter’s husband of one
year had left her, and the daughter was devastated, and in shock. Her
daughter was an air traffic controller, and so they were both concerned
about how her mental state would affect her work….As Paula found
herself in the airport to fly home, she wondered if her presence had helped
her daughter at all. To kill some time Paula decided to buy some souvenirs
for her grandchildren at the gift shop. As she put the gifts on the counter,
the clerk asked her how she liked the state. “I always enjoy the area here,”
she answered. “In fact, I usually enjoy most every area I visit.” The clerk
then asked her how her trip went, which caused Paula to start crying, and
then she preceded to share about her daughter’s problem. The clerk listened
intently, and then said: “Oh, but God is good. He will act on your daughter’s
behalf.” To which Paula answered: “I know.” She grabbed her gift and
walked toward her terminal. But after a few steps, she began to feel the
power of God come upon her and give her a sense of hope that all would
work out. As God touched her hurting heart, she knew God would touch her
daughter’s as well!
Hope will come to us when we open up our hearts to God and cry out to God. Hope will come to us when we believe that God is always with us. Hope will come to us when we let God’s face daily shine on us. Hope will come to us when we understand that the discipline of God is there to restore us and bring us back into a right relationship with God. Let us leave here today with a strong sense of hope, because we realize that God is present, and God can work all things for the good! Amen.
1st Sun. of Advent- Hope
11/30/08; Psalm 80:1-7
Introduction: A couple of seasons ago Tyler and I went with my brother to a Dodger game. They were playing the Atlanta Braves, and it was a close game. But in the seventh inning the Braves scored a couple of runs to take a lead. It was a school night, so I looked at Tyler and said: “I think we should get you home, I don’t think the Dodgers are going to win today.” But Tyler looked at me with eyes of hope and said: “Dad, they could still come back and win. Could we please stay?” So I said yes, and the game continued in the seventh, and the eighth, without the Dodgers scoring, and the time getting later. But in the ninth inning, one of the Dodgers hit a 3-run homerun to win the game!
On this first Sunday of Advent we talk about Hope./ And what is hope? Hope is not quitting. Hope is going on in the midst of challenges all around us. Hope is believing in a good outcome even though you can’t understand how that might happen. Hope is seeing ourselves struggling along, only to have God come and restore wholeness to our lives. Hope is God making beautiful music out of our selfish, sinful lives.
I. The Shining Face of God- (Psalm 80:1-3; Philippians 4:4)
a. Give ear- There are many people in this world that have no hope. And
the first reason that they have no hope is that they have no one to turn to for help. In this society that encourages individualism and a do-it-yourself attitude, so many people have stopped relying on others. Did you know that sometimes just telling someone your troubles is helpful? When you keep things to yourself, it can eat at you and frustrate you more. We have been created to be in relationship with others; and that includes sharing our troubles with each other.
I know that many people think that when you share your troubles with another, you are being a burden to them. I have had many people tell me that they don’t come to talk with me because they don’t want to burden me with their troubles. But the truth is, if someone cares for you at all, then they will not be burdened by your sharing, but will welcome the opportunity to be there for you.
Even more than that, our hope should reside in the fact that the God of this universe, the creator of all things, allows us to bend His ear. We have the availability of God to us anytime, any day! This brings hope, because we know that not only is God willing to listen, God has the capabilities of helping us once we give Him our troubles. We can call out to God for help and ask for God’s favor.
b. Stir up Your might- This leads us to the second reason why many
people have no hope, and that is because they have no one who is capable of doing anything about the troubles in their life. I know that there are many times in my life that people come to me and share their struggles. I hear what they have to say, and I struggle with them. But I know that I can’t physically do anything to ease their pain. I cry out to God: “O God, what am I to do for this person?
Example- There is a movie that came out a number of years ago called “Bruce
Almighty,” starring Jim Carrey.” In this movie a man named Bruce is given the
opportunity to be God for a day. In one scene in the movie, Bruce is sitting before his computer, and he hears the familiar phrase, ‘you’ve got mail.’ As he checks his e-mail he sees that he has 1 million prayer requests. He opens the first, reads it, and then answers it as he sees fit. But then his prayer request list jumps to 3 million! In frustration he answers yes to all the requests. There is pandemonium because of all this. Bruce then goes to see God, and God explains that it is not good for everyone to have their prayers answered as they desire. One example of this is that Bruce answered yes to a woman to receive some money. But the plan was for her to have to go to her sister for help (her sister to which she was estranged). By going to her sister the relationship would have been restored.
We need to be reminded that we can’t always do it on our own, or we can’t always help each other, but we have a God who has insight and who can help us in ways we might never understand. There is hope in knowing that we have a God of strength available to us.
c. God’s shining face- A third reason people feel like they have no hope
is that they don’t have anyone who is there for them. If you have ever seen a family that generally gets along and supports each other, you will see a group of people who are basically content with life. This doesn’t mean that they don’t have problems in their family. And it doesn’t mean that they don’t have problems in their lives. But because they have a strong support system, they have a healthy and positive outlook on life.
Why is this? Well, it is because sometimes, more than having our problems taken away, more than having someone to talk to, it is important to know that there is somebody who is always there for you. Sometimes the ministry of presence is the most important ministry of all. What is the ministry of presence? It is just being present for someone in a time of need. Maybe you hear that somebody is in the hospital. You can’t make them better. There are probably no words you could say that would take away their troubles. But you choose to go and be with them anyway. You know what? That is the ministry of presence, and is probably the best thing you could do for them.
When we know that we have people in our lives that are just there for us, then that brings a lot of peace and calmness to our lives. That is why it is good news, news of hope, to know that God’s shining face is always there for us. Even when we don’t feel like God is at work, just knowing that God is present in our lives is wonderful. That is why the apostle Paul could say the words in Philippians 4:4- “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice.” Paul rejoiced because he knew that God was always with Him!
II. The Restoring God- (Psalm 80:4-7; Mark 11:15-17; Hebrews 12:9-10)
a. Is God angry? (…The Tardy Oxcart, p. 33- Thomas Jefferson once
said: “When angry count to ten, if very angry count to a hundred.” Mark Twain said it this way: “When angry count to four, if very angry, swear.”) There is some good advice there, and that is when we are angry, we will usually respond quickly in inappropriate ways. Mark Twain didn’t count high enough, and his response was to swear! To count to ten….or one hundred, helps us to let our anger diminish before we respond.
Unfortunately, we think that God gets angry with us in the same way that we get angry with others. We believe that God wants to be harsh with us. We believe that God will have trouble accepting what we’ve done and won’t want to forgive us. But the good news is that God does not get angry in the same way we do. As the psalmist asks in Psalm 80:4- “O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?”/ In other words, they think that God isn’t answering their prayers because God is angry. And as long as God is angry in this way, then we have no hope, because we have lost access to God’s presence.
But God does not get angry in the way we get angry. An example of God’s anger is how Jesus responded in the market place in the gospel of Mark, chapter 11. In this chapter Jesus entered the market place that was set up in front of the temple. Jesus’ anger came from seeing how the sellers were taking advantage of the people by telling them that they had to buy certain things before they could enter the temple. Jesus’ anger was not that of un-forgiveness, but that of wanting to wake the people up to their wrong and hurtful behavior.
Example: I know that sometimes I have to raise my voice to my children, get a little angry with them, to get their attention and wake them up to what they need to do... This is true of God as well. His anger toward us is for the purpose of waking us up to what we need to stop doing so that we might start doing the right things.
b. Does God punish? The psalmist continues in verse 6 when he says,
“You make us the scorn of our neighbors…” The psalmist believes that God is punishing His people, and by His punishment, they have been scorned before others.
So we might ask, does God punish? And the answer is “yes.” God does punish us. As we are told in the book of Hebrews 12:9-10, “Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness.”/
Example- Believe it or not, there are times when Tyler or Tiffany will do something wrong. Maybe they are talking back to us and giving us a poor attitude and not doing what they need to be doing. Or maybe they lie to us. When this happens, it would not be good for us to let it pass without some kind of appropriate discipline. So we might take away the computer, or their TV time, or their gameboy. We don’t do this to hurt them, but rather to help them learn how to behave and respond in life. The discipline is for their good.
You see, God doesn’t discipline us for the purpose of harming us in any way, or trying to embarrass us before others, but for the purpose of helping us to be more holy; for the purpose of bringing long term hope to our lives.
c. Restore us God- When we are undisciplined, we have little hope for
good. That is why we as parents challenge and discipline our children. We discipline them not to hurt them, but to help them follow a good and right path. It is even more true for God. Any punishment that might come our way is to bring us back to a right place with God and with our lives.
You might not feel lost. You might not see how you have gone astray. But
the truth is that all of us are choosing our own path daily. And because of this, all of us need some extra discipline in our lives. We need the discipline that God brings to us so that we might be restored.
If you were your own parent, and you looked at your life, and the way you are living, and the decisions you are making, and the type of commitment that you have towards God, where might you discipline yourself? What is causing you to distance yourself from God?
The whole point of Psalm 80 was a cry to God for God’s face to be seen, and for the people to be in a right relationship with God. That is why the psalmist twice said, in verses 3 and 7- “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”
Conclusion: “At the Counter,” Stories for the Heart, p. 47
There is a story of a woman, Paula Kirk, who had to visit her daughter
over her Easter vacation. It turns out that her daughter’s husband of one
year had left her, and the daughter was devastated, and in shock. Her
daughter was an air traffic controller, and so they were both concerned
about how her mental state would affect her work….As Paula found
herself in the airport to fly home, she wondered if her presence had helped
her daughter at all. To kill some time Paula decided to buy some souvenirs
for her grandchildren at the gift shop. As she put the gifts on the counter,
the clerk asked her how she liked the state. “I always enjoy the area here,”
she answered. “In fact, I usually enjoy most every area I visit.” The clerk
then asked her how her trip went, which caused Paula to start crying, and
then she preceded to share about her daughter’s problem. The clerk listened
intently, and then said: “Oh, but God is good. He will act on your daughter’s
behalf.” To which Paula answered: “I know.” She grabbed her gift and
walked toward her terminal. But after a few steps, she began to feel the
power of God come upon her and give her a sense of hope that all would
work out. As God touched her hurting heart, she knew God would touch her
daughter’s as well!
Hope will come to us when we open up our hearts to God and cry out to God. Hope will come to us when we believe that God is always with us. Hope will come to us when we let God’s face daily shine on us. Hope will come to us when we understand that the discipline of God is there to restore us and bring us back into a right relationship with God. Let us leave here today with a strong sense of hope, because we realize that God is present, and God can work all things for the good! Amen.
posted by Logan's Blog at 1:09 PM
1 Comments:
Re: Ministry of Presence -
When I was in training for phone counseling, one of the directors/instructors would tell us that "90% of helping is just showing up."
I don't know how many times I've been saved from a load of frustration and hurt, just because I knew that there was someone that I could call for help.
Post a Comment
<< Home