"How To Know Joy"

Luke 1:68-69

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Introduction: The other day I received some “funnies” via my e-mail. I would like to read them to you: The first one is of a person who lives in a semi-rural area and he called the local township administrative office to request the removal of the “Deer Crossing” sign on the road. The reason, he said: "too many deer were being hit by cars" and he didn't want them to cross there anymore. (As if the deer were reading the signs!)

Someone else was at the airport in Birmingham, Al., checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge? To which the passenger replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?” The employee smiled, nodded, and said: "That's why we ask."

Another story is of a couple that arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up their car. They were told the keys had been locked in it. They went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver’s side door. As they watched from the passenger side, one of them instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," he announced to the technician, "its open!" To which he replied, "I know - I already got that side."

Laughter is important. If you know me at all, you know I love to laugh, and I love to make other people laugh. Those who know me are regularly sending me “funnies” via e-mail. I believe God gave us laughter to keep us healthier and happier. God gave us laughter to enjoy life all the more. God gave us laughter to help us get through the tough times of life.

As we come to the second Sunday of Advent, we think about JOY. And when we think about joy, we probably think about fun, and happiness, and laughter.

I. Joy Experienced- (Revelations 21:4)

There is much in life that can make us feel joyful. Music can cause us to have

feelings of joy, but even more, it is the emotions that music can draw out of us; the ideas that music can produce within us. While we all have our own musical tastes, music in and of itself does much to stir up our emotions. I want to play some various kinds of music, and as I do, I want to see if it creates a feeling of joy in you. As I play the songs, close your eyes and let God use the music and the lyrics to speak to you.

1. “I Can Only Imagine” (Mercy Me)- [beg. – 1:25]

This leads us to feel joy because of the idea that one day we will be in heaven. The words say: “I can only imagine, What it will be like, When I walk, By your side. I can only imagine, What my eyes will see, When your face, Is before me; I can only imagine. Chorus: Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel, Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still, Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall, Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all, I can only imagine.”
We don’t know exactly what heaven will be like, but we know that it will be joyful because we will be in the presence of God! As Revelations 21:4 tells us: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” What a joyous time heaven will be!

The next song is Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” There are 4 movements; I’m going to play a portion of Spring for you…

2. Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons: Spring”- [beg. – 1:20]

As you closed your eyes, did anything come to your mind? When I close my eyes, I often let the music create scenes in my mind. This is the same idea that is behind the Disney movie Fantasia, where artists created animated stories from the music. As we think about spring, we experience the joyful thoughts of flowers blooming, the weather warming up, and an atmosphere of enjoying God’s creation.

The third song is “Agnus Dei” from Michael W. Smith…

3. Michael W. Smith: “Agnus Dei”- [beg. – 1:45]

As this song starts I imagine the voice is that of an angel, singing to the risen Lord, the words “Alleleuia, for the Lord God Almighty reigns.” Then it is a chorus of angels! “Holy is the Lamb…You are holy.” There is joy in knowing that God the Son not only came into this world, in human flesh, and died for our sins, but that He now reigns in heaven as the slain lamb. He is holy for many reasons, but important for us is that as the lamb of God He sacrificed Himself so that we might have life! In this we rejoice.

Lastly, let us listen to the London Symphony Orchestra play ‘Joy to the World.’ [Beginning to 1:20]

4. London Symphony Orchestra: “Joy to the World.”

The orchestra plays it with such exuberance. Then the choir comes in and starts singing the lyrics: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come…”/ This is what Advent season, what Christmas is to be about: JOY. We rejoice in the coming of Christ into our world. We rejoice that LOVE Himself has stepped into our dimension.

II. Joy Known- (Luke 1:68-69; Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

a. Joy is more than happiness- But Joy is more than our feelings;

more than our emotions. Joy is even more than happiness. Joy is something that can be experienced at all times and in many ways. That is why the apostle Paul can say to us in Philippians 4:4- “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.”

We are all seeking joy in our lives. If you were to ask anyone, chances are that one of their goals in life is to feel a sense of joy. They want to be happy. And yet, having said this, it is important for me to point out that there is a difference between happiness and joy. Most people think these words are synonyms, that they mean the same thing, but this is not true. Happiness is based on experiences, while we are told by Paul that joy can be experienced always. That is why Paul says in another book he wrote, 1 Thessalonians, in chapter 5, verses 16-18- “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you.”

When we are “joyful,” we can love life, and take everything in life in stride. How is this possible? Because our joy comes from knowing that we are not in charge, but God is, and that God can work all things out for the good.

When we are letting God fill us with joy, then we will tend to be less stressed,

and we will laugh more. [“Amusing Grace,” page 4] Let me tell you some helpful facts about laughter that comes from joy:

· Thirteen muscles are used for our smiling mechanism, while 50 muscles are required for frowning;

· Laughter lowers the levels of cortisol in the body. Cortisol

suppresses the immune system. Lowering this level helps the immune system to work and prevent disease.

· You can get the same benefits for your heart and lungs

from laughing 100 times a day than you can from rowing for 10 minutes a day?

· Laughing for 15 seconds adds 2 days to your life span.

We are all too stressed because we don’t not let the joy of the Lord fill us!!

b. Joy at all times- The Greek word for joy is “chara.” It refers to

exultation or delight. The interesting thing is that it is used in the Bible in talking about good experiences AND in trials. Let me help you to understand this…

1. First, is the “JOY” that is found in looking beyond

ourselves. Our focus is often wrong. Our focus is usually on ourselves; on the trials we are facing. We are very selfish by nature. But if we could learn how to focus less on ourselves, and more on others, then we would experience more joy in our lives, because we will dwell less on our trials. This is true. The more we give of ourselves to others, the more joy we experience! The message of joy for Christmas is that Jesus is Immanuel; God with us. And of course we know that Jesus told us that He came to serve, not to be served. So in this season, maybe you adopt-a-family to give a Christmas present to, OR go with us later this month and sing Christmas carols at The Manor. There are lots of ways to give of yourself!

2. Second, is the joy of knowing that through Christ

we will be delivered from our hardships. This is indeed a word that should bring joy to our hearts, because life is full of hardships. Yet, joy is experienced as we let God walk us through our hardships, and bring us to the other side stronger, more capable, and wiser. God doesn’t keep us “hardship free,” but helps us through the struggles of life.

3. Third, joy is finding favor with God as we read in Luke 1:68-69. Let me read verse 68 again. Luke 1:68 reads- “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has looked favorably on His people and redeemed them.” How has the Lord looked favorably on His people? By visiting them, in Christ, and by redeeming them.

We need to understand what has really happened here; God has visited us! God has taken on flesh and lived among us! God has come to this earth to give us a glimpse of who He is! God has come to this earth to let us experience unconditional love. God has shown us favor by doing this, because it is not as if we have deserved this glimpse, or visit, or love. And God has redeemed us in the One we call Christ. We experience great joy in knowing that we are that special to God.

Conclusion: Let me ask you this: Are you experiencing joy in your life? I hope your answer is yes. But whether it is “yes” OR “no,” it should be yes when you leave today. Joy comes from knowing that God is with you and working for you at all times. Joy comes from knowing that God’s will can be seen happening in our lives when we trust God. Joy comes from knowing that God looks favorably upon us. As Psalm 37:4 tells us- “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” How great it is to know that we can find delight in God, and through delighting ourselves in Him, the JOY will pour out to us. I hope you will do this often throughout this Christmas season and beyond. Amen.

“Living with Hope”

Jeremiah 33:14-16

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Introduction: You’ve probably heard the phrase, ‘Hope springs eternal.’ It really is a good phrase, because the idea behind this phrase is that you never stop having hope in your life. Hope is an interesting concept, because it leads us to wish for something we don’t have; to want something we think we need. Because of this we need to be careful where we place our hope.

All too often our hope is in something that probably won’t come to us: talents we don’t have; large sums of money; retirement at an early age. We hope for these things because we think they would be good for us. But in hoping for them, it keeps us from accepting where we are and what we do have; it keeps us from enjoying the life we have now! Other times our hope is in things that isn’t the best for us to have: certain relationships that would be toxic; or a job that pays a lot of money, but doesn’t fit our skill set. We hope for these things because we think they will be good for us, and then get upset if God doesn’t give them to us. We must remember that God has a plan that is best for us, and has a greater perspective than we do. We need to trust in what God is doing and will do in our lives.

On this first Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of hope, let’s spend some time looking at how we can “live with hope” in a way that is productive and beneficial.

I. Hope Is… (Ps. 118:24; 2 Pet. 3:9; Is. 40:31, 43:1-3; Gen. 1:10; Jer. 33:16)

A while back we asked people to finish the statement “Hope is….” And it was

interesting to see what people think that hope is.

a. What people had to say- This is what some of the people had to say:

“Hope is….something within you; like seeing the glass as half full.” “Hope is for the future; for peace and harmony in the world.” “Hope is beautiful.” “Hope is success.” “Hope is ….trust; if you don’t hope, you can’t trust anything.” “Hope is….an answer.” “Hope is ….necessary.” “Hope is…finding out there is a medical treatment for your disease.” “Hope is….what makes life worth living.”

Some people understand hope, but many people don’t really have an understanding of what hope is, especially the hope of the Bible. And so consequently they place their hope in the wrong thing. This morning, it is my desire to help you to have a good sense of what God wants us to understand about hope; especially the hope that Christmas brings to us.

God calls us to be people of hope. This is because the world is so unpredictable, and filled with so many challenges. As we go along in life, we will find that our lives are often filled with disappointments, struggles, and heartache. God wants us to understand that hope really comes from our giving ourselves over to God, and letting God lead us through the challenges.

We are told in Isaiah 43:1-3a, “But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. ² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. ³ For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…’”

This passage reminds us that God, the One who formed us, and the One who redeems us from our sin, knows us by name. The hope of Advent is that God is a personal God, a God who cares deeply for us, and who cares what is going on in our lives. When we go through tough times (pass through the waters, walk through the fire) God will be with us and watch over us and get us through!!

b. Situations of hope- I want you to imagine with me some things that

might remind us of hope: The first thing might be a sunrise; the HOPE of a new day. We are told in Psalm 118:24- “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”/ Hope is understanding that every day is a new day to make a difference with our lives, and in the lives of others. It doesn’t matter what has happened in the past, today is a NEW DAY! Hope in this way helps us to keep a fresh perspective on life.

Idea #2- When you see a clock or a watch you might think of hope: the HOPE of a better time. 2 Peter 3:9a says,- “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness…”/ When we hope on the Lord to intervene in our lives, to answer our prayers, we often expect it to happen quickly. Hope is understanding that God will work His will and way in our lives; and He will do it in His timing! In hope, we can know that God has a better time for us.

Idea #3- Let’s say you are driving by the ocean, that too can remind you of hope: HOPE that is powerful and expansive. The prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 40:31- “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength…”/ There are many things in life that can tear us down and make us feel weak. But in the Lord, when we hope on Him, we can know that His power is at work in us, and that “all things are possible to those who trust the Lord.” Just as a good meal can strengthen us physically, so also as we partake of the Lord, we can be renewed spiritually. Sometimes I am just sitting there, and this wave of hope comes upon me. It energizes me spiritually, which affects my mind, and ultimately gives me a positive outlook on my situation and my life!

Idea #4- The mountains can also bring us hope; the reminder that HOPE stands tall and strong. In Genesis 1:10 we read, “God called the dry ground ‘land,’ and the gathered waters he called ‘seas.’ And God saw that it was good.”/ On the dry land God also placed the mountains that stand tall. Hope is knowing that God is above all, and beyond all, and over all, and that God can lift us up and do good things in our lives, even through the bad. Hope is knowing that God is strong and secure as are the mountains before us.

Idea #5- Of course we would be remiss in this time of advent if we didn’t think of the baby Jesus; the HOPE of new life; Jesus’ birth. Jeremiah 33:16 says: “In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.” It is because God took on flesh, in Jesus Christ, that we have the hope of new life. Without Christ, we would still be lost in our ways; we would have no hope. In Jesus, we have hope of a better life every day, because we have a wonderful example of how to live; the example that Jesus gave us in the life He lived.

II. In Those Days- (Jeremiah 33:14-16)

a. Fulfill my promise- As we look a little more at the main text of the

morning, Jeremiah 33:14-16, we see the passage starts off with God reminding us that He will fulfill His promise. And what God says that He will do, God will do. It is not like your promises, or my promises. Because if we think about it, we realize that we have all broken promises. Maybe we told our children we would do something with them, or for them, and then something came up that we couldn’t control, and we couldn’t fulfill our promise. Maybe you told a friend you would be there for them, but when they really needed you, you couldn’t be there for them. Maybe you made a commitment and then had to break this commitment. We fail to keep our promises all the time!

However, if God says He will fulfill His promise, He will fulfill it. So when we place our hope in God, we know that our hope is secure, because what God says will happen, will happen. In 700 B.C. the prophet Isaiah prophesied this in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” We see in Matthew 1:20-23 that this prophecy, this promise, comes true. We see also in Isaiah that it is prophesied that Jesus will be from the house of David, and the tribe of Judah. If you read the genea-logy of Jesus in Matthew, chapter 1, you see this promise come true! I could go on and on, telling you about prophecy after prophecy that makes a promise from God, and is fulfilled through Jesus Christ. WHAT GOD SAYS HE WILL DO, HE WILL DO.

And what is the promise found in our Jeremiah passage this morning?

b. A righteous branch- The promise is seen in Jeremiah 33:15- “In those

days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land.” This is a promise of the Messiah to come. This is a promise that was fulfilled in the coming of God in the flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ. This is a promise telling us that when Jesus came, He would bring justice and righteousness to the land. Now the problem was that when Jesus came, the people thought the justice would be Jesus overthrowing the Romans and setting the Jews into power. The Jews would then be the ones who would bestow justice and would be in the right. But the justice and righteousness that Jesus brought was different: this justice and righteousness starts in how we as followers of Christ, are to treat others justly, and how we, as Jesus followers, are to act rightly toward one another. Ultimately, Jesus has made it so that justice and righteousness would ultimately be victorious when this world comes to an end. The justice and righteousness refers to God judging the world. It is through Christ that we will be made right with God, and have any punishment against us removed.

If you think of a branch, you can understand that shoots grow off of that branch. Of course the fruit that the branch bears is in line with what kind of tree it is. An olive branch will bear olives; a fig branch will bear figs. Jesus will bear the fruit of righteousness and justice in His people. SO, as the people of God, we are called to live justly, and with righteousness. In Christ, we can bring these qualities to our world.

c. Will be saved- But ultimately justice and righteousness would be seen

in Jesus’ saving His people; all those who believed in His name. As we are told in John 1:12- “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”/

EXAMPLE- A new show that Tami and I are enjoying is “Blue Bloods,” starring Tom Selleck. Tom Selleck is the police commissioner in New York, and his family, the Reagans, have a number of people who are policemen. While Tom Selleck does a wonderful job in the show, the show is also enjoyable because of the story lines. In one particular episode a child is kidnapped. Of course we know that the first 24 hours of a kidnapping are crucial if the police are going to find the child. On top of this, the child was diabetic and needed her medicine soon. So the police start talking to people and trying to gain clues. Someone saw a van, and they were able to track the van to a suspect. After much questioning of the suspect they were able to ascertain the whereabouts of the child, and they were able to save her and get her the insulin that she needed!!

Shows like this are spellbinding because we all want to see the child saved. By gaining the truth through the clues they received, the police were able to understand where the child was, and she was saved. When people fail to see the truth, they cannot believe and be saved. In Christ, we have the whole truth. Christ gives us hope, because we have truth Himself before us.

And so we see that the hope comes in trusting in God, through Christ, whose promise is sure. The hope comes from seeing the promise come true in Jesus Christ. The hope is experienced when we believe in Jesus, and live in the justice and righteousness that Christ sets forth for us. The hope is known in re-living time and time again, the birth of Jesus Christ, which secures for us all that God has promised to come true.

Conclusion: In the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 1 we are told: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Without faith we cannot have the right kind of hope, because what we hope for is worldly, sinful, and selfish. With faith, we can indeed place our hope in God.

Story: The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, p. 274, “ A Missionary…” There is a story of a missionary who was sitting at her second-story window when she was handed a letter from home. As she opened the letter, a crisp, new, ten-dollar bill fell out. As she was reading the letter, her eyes were distracted as she saw a shabbily dressed man leaning against a post. Thinking he was more in need of the money than she was, she put the bill in an envelope, wrote on it “Don’t Despair,” and dropped it out the window. The man picked up the envelope, looked up, tipped his cap, smiled, and walked away. THE NEXT DAY there was a knock at her door. When she opened the door there standing in front of her was the shabbily dressed man. He handed her a roll of bills. Quite surprised she asked: “What is this?” To which he replied: “That’s the sixty bucks you won, lady. Don’t Despair paid 5 to 1.”

Greater than receiving some extra money, we don’t need to despair because we have hope in and through Christ. Jeremiah 33:14 starts off with the words, “In those days…” Of course this is Jeremiah talking about a future event in which the people place their hope. Every Advent season, we have the wonderful opportunity to live “in those days.” We live in the days of God choosing to take on flesh, and live among us. We live in the days when we can remember from of old how God has shown His love to us; the love of presence. We live in the days when we can truly receive hope, because our hope comes from God Himself. And so as you live in these days, from now until Christmas, I pray that you would not let the world around you/ overwhelm you/ with the secularism of Christmas. I pray that you would hope for what Christmas truly brings: joy, love, peace, and God’s presence in your life. Amen.

“Cage of Fear”

from the book "Wild Goose Chase" by Mark Batterson

Sunday, November 21, 2010: 1 Samuel 13:22-14:23

Introduction: Today as we end our “Wild Goose Chase” series, and we are going to talk about the Cage of Fear. A few years ago, two psychologists from the University of Michigan, William Gehring and Adrian Willoughby, did a study published in Science Magazine. Volunteers wore an electrode cap and they engaged in a computer simulated betting game and the electrode caps recorded changes in brain electrical activity in response to winning and losing. With each bet the medial frontal cortex showed an increase in activity, but what intrigued researchers was this – they found that the medial frontal negativity showed a larger dip after a loss than the rise in medial frontal positivity after a win. MEANING, that during a string of losses, the negativity registered in the front portion of the brain dipped lower with each loss. So, in essence, each loss was compounded by the previous loss. The significance of that is this – neurologically speaking, losses loom larger than gains.

I wonder if that is why many of us approach the will of God so defensively; we have the mentality of “better safe than sorry.” I wonder if that’s why the church is often more known for what we’re against than what we are for, because we are playing defense instead of playing offense. I would suggest that we need a paradigm shift. We need to quit playing not to lose, and start playing to win. We need to FEAR missed opportunities more than making mistakes. That’s what this cage and this biblical story is all about.

I. Advancement over fear - (1 Samuel 13:22-14:23)

a. Jonathan’s plan- Read 1 Samuel 13:22-14:23 ... A very important statement by Jonathan comes in verse 6, when he says: “Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving…” We might say that Jonathan had a sanctified medial frontal cortex. He did not let his fears dictate his decision. His desire to advance the kingdom, so to speak, was greater than his fear of failure, and his attraction to gain was greater than his aversion to loss. Jonathan was not playing defense. He was playing offense. He courageously climbed the cliffs at Micmash, and picks a fight with the entire Philistine army. Jonathan had a daring plan.

Now, if you were to run this by a General, he would tell you that it was the worst plan ever, because Jonathan is basically exposing himself to the enemy in broad daylight. Jonathan knows that God will give him a sign by what the Philistines say to them. If they say, ‘Come up to us,’ that will be the sign that the Lord has given them into his hands. Jonathan is very courageous here.

Illustration- I think I’ve said it before, that I have a fear of heights. One time when I was climbing some rocks with a friend of mine, we came across this gap in the rocks that looked difficult to get across. So my friend used the rope we had to help lower me down to the next rock so that I could then jump across. We took our time making sure that we were being safe, and of course since we were high up there was definitely fear involved! Finally I made it across safely, then my friend simply hopped down to the next rock and jumped over!! He made it look so easy, and actually it wasn’t as difficult as it had looked; no fear was needed.

In a much scarier scenario, Jonathan is preparing for a real battle: he is outnumbered, he is outgunned. What gave him the courage to go on the offensive and how did he know it was God’s will? I think it is impossible to know exactly what thoughts were in Jonathan’s brain, but this verse does reveal Jonathan’s courage.

If we were to take up Jonathan’s courage as a church, it would not come from education, because we know what we believe and what is important. We even KNOW what God wants us to do: tell people about the saving love of Jesus Christ.

I also don’t think that it is a lack of resources. You want to know what I think is the most lacking? Guts. Courage. Faith.

We don’t have the same kind of faith as Jonathan. The faith that led him to climb the cliff, to engage the enemy, and to realize that we are involved in something that is a matter of life or death and that we are called to live courageously, even dangerously for the cause of Christ. Now our lives aren’t on the line like Jonathan’s was, but that shouldn’t give us an excuse to be passive.

b. Playing offense- God is calling us to play offense, and this story should inspire us to this end. This story should remind us that God wants us to have daring plans, and He will back us in our plans when they are in line with His will. The concern shouldn’t be with how bold it is, but rather if we believe God is behind the plan. Sometimes the most daring plans come to us because they are from the Holy Spirit; they are part of this Wild Goose Chase we are called to be on.

We see at the end of the story, in 1 Samuel 14:23, that one person, Jonathan, creates a tipping point for the battle: “So the Lord gave Israel the victory that day..”

This should tell us that the will of God is not an insurance plan, it is a daring plan. I think more often than not, the will of God will involve a daring decision, a difficult decision, sometimes a dangerous decision that might even seem unsafe and insane. But the fact that the Wild Goose has prompted you to do it helps you to see that it is indeed a wise decision.

I like the way that the 20th century missionary C. T. Studd said it. He said, “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” The church needs more people with this viewpoint. When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things? Where do we get that? We make a false assumption about the will of God when we think like this. I think we’ve assumed that it should get easier the longer we follow Christ. I want to suggest that some dimensions do get easier the more you practice spiritual disciplines: it is easier for me to tithe now than it was in the beginning. It is easier for me to trust some of those crazy promptings of the Holy Spirit now than it was then.

But I think spiritual growth prepares us for more dangerous missions, to do more daring things for the cause of Christ, and it shouldn’t get less adventurous, it ought to get more adventurous. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Can I suggest that many Christians seem to operate with the exact opposite modus operandi? Perhaps the Lord won’t act on our behalf. So we spend our entire lives at the foot of that cliff, we just don’t have the guts to climb it, because what if God doesn’t act on our behalf? Well, you’re going to be there a long time and nothing exciting is going to happen and I wonder if that is why a lot of people are bored with their faith.

II. Overcoming our Fear to defeat the Enemy- (1 Sam. 14:2-23;Matthew 25:14-30)

a. Being active- God is calling us to be active, and when we are active, God will bless that activity. Jonathan was active, and we see how God blessed him. But on the other side you have Saul, his father, who is being passive. You’ve got Jonathan climbing cliffs, and take a look at what his dad is doing. 1 Samuel 14:2: “Meanwhile, Saul and his 600 men were camped on the outskirts of Gibeah, around the pomegranate tree at Migron.” What a study in contrast! I think what Saul didn’t do is just as significant as what Jonathan did do. His son is climbing cliffs; engaging the enemy, Saul is sitting under a pomegranate tree on the outskirts of Gibeah. What’s wrong with this picture? The Philistines control the pass at Micmash, and as the leader of the army of Israel, Saul should have been fighting back instead of kicking back. But he is on the sidelines instead of the front lines.

This isn’t the first time that Saul is sitting back and letting someone else fight his battle. Saul was head and shoulders taller than anybody else in Israel, Saul should have been the one out on that battlefield fighting the kingdom’s battles, but he was a spectator. I think, instead of playing to win, Saul was playing not to lose and he was content with letting others fight his battles for him.

I think many Christians are a lot like the Israelites who told Moses to climb the mountain and talk to God for them. They want someone to seek God for them, to do the work of the Kingdom for them. There are too many passive Christians. Church plays an important role in the spiritual rhythm of our lives, and it is an important time of gathering, and praising, and being empowered by God. But God’s ultimate dream is not that we just sit here each week and worship. God’s dream for our lives as Christians is that once we are recharged spiritually, we go out and live out our faith. We engage the enemy. We take the offensive.

I think there is a little Saul in each of us. There is part of us that wants God to defeat the enemy while we are on the outskirts of Gibeah under pomegranate trees. ‘Do it for us’ we say. You should PRAY like it depends on God, and WORK like it depends on you. Sometimes you’ve got to get up and do something, and if we don’t do anything, nothing is going to happen. EX. I’ve heard many of you say to me that I give fine sermons, and that it is too bad that there weren’t more people in church to hear it. But how many visitors do we have each week? Not that many. We all need to be working hard to bring visitors to church every week to hear God’s message!! That is one way that we can take the offensive.

b. Taking a step of faith- If Jonathan hadn’t climbed the cliff, engaged the enemy, picked a fight, the status quo would have remained. We’ve got to take that little step of faith as Jonathan did. God wants to say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But if you remember the passage in Matthew 25, Jesus says it to the two servants who use their talents and gain more, not to the servant who buried it and did nothing. The servants risked losing what they had so that might gain more. The servant who buried the talent was fearful of losing what he had. God wants us to put our faith into action.

We have a choice to make. Are we going to sit under a pomegranate tree on the outskirts of Gibeah or are we going to climb a cliff?

SO, let’s get practical for a minute and talk about some of the ways we can climb the cliff. This is where I want to be really careful because in the midst of the Wild Goose Chase, I have no idea what cliff God is calling you to climb. I can imagine it is a daring plan, or maybe even a dangerous plan. It will start with those little promptings from the Holy Spirit, and will require you to be obedient to those little promptings. These promptings will ultimately lead you to a cliff that you will need to climb, as Jonathan did, and there you will meet the Wild Goose at the top.

Let me give you some ways that you can be practical in living out your spiritual adventure…

Sometime next year we will be doing a Small Group Leaders Training. This is a great way for some of you to help move forward our small group ministry. God is calling some of you to be leaders of these small groups. We will make sure you are completely prepared for leading a small group. This may be a daring call for you, but God is right now prompting your heart to get involved in this way. OR, maybe God has prompted you with a ministry idea, but you are fearful of it, because you don’t know how it can happen. You need to share it with me, or one of the elders, and let us move forward in making it a reality in our church.

A second way to be on the offensive is to TITHE; to give 10% of what God has given to you. I want to tell you from experience that life is so much more exciting when you tithe, and when you see how God not only provides for you, but blesses others and the church through your giving. It is fearful to give so much of our money away, but that is what makes it exciting. It turns your life into a spiritual adventure, and in this adventure, God will take care of you.

A third idea, is what I mentioned before; bringing people to church. Maybe you asked someone to come, and they said “no,” and you haven’t asked them again. Or maybe one person said no, and you decided to stop asking. I guarantee you, that there are many people you come in contact with every week who need to get right with God, and who need to get back to church. It might require you to drive them, or to call and remind them on Sunday. That is your faith in action.

As we are approaching the end of the year, it is a good time to reflect where we have been challenged, and where we have struggled, and where we have been blessed. It is important to set some new spiritual goals for your life. Pray first, and let God lead you to the goals He wants you to have.

Let me give you one last word of encouragement. I know you some of you are sitting here thinking, ‘I’m not Jonathan. That’s a great story but that’s not me.’ Well, there’s someone else in the story, it’s the armor-bearer, and that’s what I love about this story, without the armor-bearer, Jonathan can’t do this. It says that Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Climb up after me, the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.” And Jonathan climbed up using his hands and feet with his armor-bearer right behind him, and together they wreak a little bit of havoc for the kingdom.

Here’s what’s great, not everybody can be a Jonathan, but you can be an armor-bearer, you can be part of what God is doing. We are part of the greatest dream ever dreamed. We call it The Great Commission: ‘Go and make disciples of people everywhere.’ Are you involved in making disciples? You can be!

You are part of something bigger than you can even imagine, because you are a child of God, and as such you are part of God’s Kingdom. You fear keeps you from engaging in the battle we face. I think that a lot of our fears are subconscious, we’ve never defined them, and the first step is actually defining what we fear. Then once we have acknowledged what that fear is, we ask God to help us overcome that fear, and take that step of faith. Again, this puts us on a wonderful spiritual adventure.

The enemy is a fear-monger, it is one of his primary tactics, but perfect love casts out all fear. So what we need to do is grow in our love relationship with God. When we do this, God will release us from our fears.

Conclusion: Henry James once wrote a story titled The Madonna of the Future. It was a story about an artist who devoted her entire life to a single painting, and when the artist died, it was discovered that the canvas was still blank. She never finished because she never started./ Lord Acton, a 19th century historian, was a prolific thinker, authoring numerous lectures, essays and reviews, but he never published a book. In fact, when he referred to his life work, he had a title, he called it “A History of Liberty.” Many have described it as the greatest book that was never written. In the words of Daniel Borstein, Lord Acton was always discouraged by the imperfection of material. He always delayed his unifying work by the promise of new facts and new ideas still to come. Borstein said Lord Acton knew too much to write, and thus his life work, the culmination of everything he had learned and experienced became a Madonna of the Future.

Here’s my question – what is your unpainted canvas? What is your unwritten book? What God-given dream is collecting dust? What God-ordained passion remains caged? What fear is keeping you at the bottom of the cliff? I have no idea what your Madonna of the Future is, but here’s what I do know, you will never finish what you don’t start. That’s what this series is about. Too many people get stuck in the cage of responsibility, the cage of routine, the cage of assumptions, the cage of guilt, the cage of failure, and the cage of fear.

So take the first step so the Wild Goose Chase can begin for you. God is inviting you into the reality of what you life can be. Jesus is saying to you, “Come, follow Me.” He says this to invite us into a life changing relationship with Him, and He says it to invite us on this Wild Goose Chase. I want to encourage you to say yes to the spiritual adventure God has for you, and start walking that path today. I want to challenge you, you’ve got to climb the cliff, you’ve got to accept that invitation, and I want to invite you to do that today. Amen.

“Cage of Failure”

from the book "Wild Goose Chase" by Mark Batterson

Sunday, November 14, 2010: Acts 28:1-10

Introduction: FAILURE. It is part of life. Maybe when you were a kid you got picked last to play a game, and it felt like failure. Maybe you got an “F” on a test. Maybe you felt like you failed when someone broke up with you. So many events in life can end up in what feels like failure. The question is, how will we respond after we have experienced this failure?

Up to this point in our series we have talked about 4 of the 6 cages that can entrap us: the Cage of Responsibility, the Cage of Routine, the Cage of Assump-tions, and then last week we talked about the Cage of Guilt. Today we are going to talk about the Cage of Failure. I think this is where many people can be tripped up spiritually. It is challenging to deal with failure; people don’t like to fail. Maybe it is a failed relationship, or you have failed at a job, or have had some kind of moral failure. The problem with failure, is that when we fail, we feel like we are the only one who has failed. The good news, is that at some point in life, we all have failed in some way. Let’s talk about how we can keep from letting this be a cage in our lives.

I. Divine Destinations- (Acts 28:1-10; Romans 8:28)

a. Setting up the story- Today we are going to focus on the book of

Acts, chapter 28. Let me set the stage: Paul is a prisoner on board a ship bound for Rome, and for about two weeks, they experienced the perfect storm, and finally their ship sinks. It crashes on some rocks. But just as Paul had prophesied to the captain of the ship, not one prisoner or one sailor loses their life. Everybody makes it to shore and I’m sure Paul is wet and hungry and exhausted and that’s where we pick up the story in Acts 28, verse 1, and let’s read up to verse 4: “Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us an unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and as he put it on the fire, a viper snake, driven out by the heat, fasten itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, ‘This man must be a murderer, for though he escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.’”

If you were on a ship, and it shipwrecked, that would qualify as a failure. You would not be arriving at your intended destination. Then on top of that, we see that Paul gets bitten by a viper snake. This is not a good day for Paul. At this point, Paul could have developed a ‘victim mentality.’ He could have felt ‘woe is me.’ He could have asked God: “God, if I’m going to die by a snakebite, why didn’t you just have me drown at sea?”

But like Paul, we need to see these situations as opportunities for God to glorify Himself in a unique way, and that’s what’s about to happen. God is able to turn shipwrecks and snakebites into supernatural synchronicities that serve His purposes. Let’s continue the story in verse 5, all the way to verse 10: “But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably. His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. They honored us in many ways and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.”

b. Turning failure into victory- Let me state the obvious, Paul and Publius should have never met. Malta wasn’t even on Paul’s itinerary. And if Paul, who was a prisoner of the Romans, had requested a meeting with the chief official of Malta, do you think that would have happened? There is no way that meeting is going to happen. It took a shipwreck to strategically position Paul at this exact latitude and longitude, and it took a snakebite to set up this DIVINE APPOINTMENT with Publius. The shipwreck and the snakebite weren’t part of Paul’s plan, but when you chase the Wild Goose, God may just use a shipwreck or a snakebite to set up an island-wide revival.

Only God could orchestrate these kinds of circumstances. As you read the Book of Acts, you discover that some of Paul’s destinations were planned, but many of them weren’t on Paul’s itinerary. For example, Paul ended up in Athens because a Jewish mob in Thessalonica ran him out of town. Paul traveled to Troas because the door was closed to Bethinia, and of course Paul landed in Malta because his ship sank in the Mediterranean. Athens, Troas and Malta weren’t places that Paul planned on going, they were detours. But I might suggest that they were divine detours. They weren’t part of Paul’s plan but God used what seemed like detours, what seemed like failures, to strategically position Paul right where He wanted him.

Does your life bear witness to what I’m talking about? Have you ever experienced an event like a shipwreck or a snakebite? When it happens, it is disorienting, it is painful, and you wonder, ‘why am I going through this?’ and it is only afterwards that you see how God used that event to get you where He wanted you to go. The truth is, if the plans I had made had succeeded when I went to Colorado, I would not be here right now. I always felt that God was calling me to Colorado, and so when I got the opportunity, I went. But it didn’t work out; it seemed like a failure. But God used that experience to prepare me for what I would do here at Community Presbyterian Church in Long Beach. God had other plans. It took that closed door to open the one He wanted for me.

Here’s the deal, when things happen in our lives that are jarring or disorienting, a shipwreck or a snakebite, it rattles the cage. You get a bad diagnosis or a pink slip or divorce papers and what happens is those things cause the compass needle to spin in our lives and we’re wondering which way is up? What is God doing? But I think it is in those situations that we need to realize that the Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust. Bad things do happen to good people, but here’s the good news, as Paul reminds us in Romans 8:28- “All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose. It is not that we are immune to all these things that happen, it is that God can use them for His purposes and that’s what we hang onto.

II. Getting us to where God wants- (Proverbs 16:9)-

a. Hanging in there- If you imagine the scene after the ship was wrecked, you might be able to imagine Paul hanging onto driftwood in the Mediterranean until they finally make it to shore. And by the way, sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is hang in there. It might not feel like it when you are just hanging on, but the more theological word for it is PERSEVERANCE.

Sometimes the worst thing that happens to us can turn out to be the best thing that happens to us, because God has a way of using those things to lay a foundation in our lives and to prepare us for what He wants.

Sometimes we get so focused on trying to get where God wants us to go that we totally forget that God is far more concerned with who we are becoming in the process. God is going to get you where God wants you to go. That is God fulfilling His will! But He’s not going to get you there until you are ready to get there, and who you are becoming is far more important than where you are going. So it is in these situations that God is working His purposes in our lives.

Illustration: In 1809, he was born into poverty in a one-room log cabin, 16 by 18 feet. In 1816, his family was evicted from their home and he had to work to support them. In 1818, his mother died. In 1831, he failed in business. In 1832, he ran for the state legislature and lost. In 1832, he lost his job and wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in. In 1833, he borrowed money to start a business and was bankrupt by the end of the year. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off that debt. In 1835, he was engaged to be married but his sweetheart died and his heart was broken. It was devastating to him. In 1836, he had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for the next six months. In 1843, he ran for Congress and lost. In 1849, he sought the job of land officer in his home state and was rejected. In 1854, he ran for the Senate and lost. In 1856, he sought the vice presidential nomination at his party’s national convention, and got less than 100 votes. In 1858, he ran for the US Senate again and lost again. So let’s make a summary of this: poverty, eviction, mother dying early in his life, failing a business, losing his job, losing several times while running for public office, having his fiancée die, a nervous breakdown…There are many people who would have given up any hope of succeeding at anything with far less happening…..BUT, in 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States of America.

Talk about the cage of failure! If anybody should have gotten stuck in that cage it would have been Abraham Lincoln!

b. The assistance of the Divine Being- If you were to read the

biographies of Abraham Lincoln, you would see that he was a tortured soul. He led a very tough life; a life full of setbacks and sufferings and failures, but those things prepared him for this thing called the Civil War, and if it weren’t for Abraham Lincoln, we might have just had 2 elections instead of one! Martin Luther King once said, “What does not destroy me makes me stronger.” Lincoln lost 40 pounds while he was in office. He hardly slept. When his son died, he became incoherent and could hardly discharge his duties. Dale Carnegie, in his biography said, “Year by year, his laughter had grown less frequent, the furrows in his face had deepened, his shoulders had stooped, his cheeks were sunken, he suffered from chronic indigestion, his legs were always cold, he would hardly sleep, he wrote habitually on his face the look of anguish.”

So what do you think kept him going? What allowed him to survive the personal and national crisis that he was at the center of? I think a lot of it is that he never lost his sense of destiny. It is very hard to know what was going through the mind of someone that lived 150 years ago, but his speech before he came to take office in DC I think is revealing. He said, “I now leave not knowing when or whether ever I may return with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being whoever attended him, (referring to the God that Washington worshipped,) without the assistance of that Divine Being, whoever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail.” Those may be some of the most profound historical words in our country’s history: Without God’s assistance, I cannot succeed. With His assistance, I cannot fail. I think there is this sense of destiny. And I think it is the thing that kept him going, and needs to keep us going.

Here’s a question: Are any of you control freaks? I know that in many areas of my life, and my family’s life, I am a control freak. It is human nature to want to control our environment, our relationships, our life! But the truth is, that is hard to admit, we don’t have control over a lot of things. You are not in control, and that can stress you out until the day Jesus returns. OR, I think you can get a little bit of perspective and not let it stress you out.

Let me tell you something that hopefully will help to take a little pressure off of us. If you think that one misstep, one mistake, one failure can frustrate the providential plan of Almighty God, then your God is way too small. I’m amazed at my ability to put myself on par with God and think that somehow, I can frustrate His omnipotent plan. God is bigger than that. I think the Wild Goose chase, this great spiritual adventure, is about living that life that we’ve been called to, but even more it is a celebration of the sovereignty of God. Proverbs 16:9 tells us, “In his heart a man plans his course but God orders his footsteps.”

Stop for a moment and take a deep breath. Now take one more. For many, this seems to be a silly exercise, but the truth is, it really helps to recalibrate us physiologically. It helps to relax us a bit. It helps us to slow down our thinking and our planning. When in the middle of a shipwreck, or when in the middle of a snakebite, the best thing to do is to remind ourselves that God is ordering our footsteps and no matter how difficult it gets, no matter how frustrating, no matter how disorienting, we need to remind ourselves that God is sovereign.

III. Sense of Destiny- (John 3:8)

a. Out of your control- When we remember this truth, that God is

sovereign, then we can indeed have a sense of destiny about our lives. At just the right time, God will reveal the next part of His plan for us. He probably won’t reveal a lot of the plan, just enough to keep us moving forward, just enough to keep us guessing, just enough to keep us trusting in Him! God always has ulterior motives. There are always reasons that we are unaware of, and that again can be a little stressful to us, but isn’t it great that we have a heavenly Father that always has our best interests at heart. Sure, it might involve some things that are painful or difficult, but the truth is, that’s how God gets us where He wants us to go. God always has omniscient reasons that we are unaware of. I mean, as the ship was going down, as the snake was biting his hand, Paul had to just throw his hands up in the air and say, ‘God where are You and what are You doing?’ I think God probably would have said, ‘Hang in there a little bit longer Paul because I want you to meet this guy named Publius. In fact, his dad has dysentery and you need to go heal him and guess what, everybody on the island is going to come to you and you are going to have a captive audience and the gospel, the good news, is going to spread over an entire island because of what you are experiencing.’

Things are going to happen beyond your control. You might lose a job, someone might break up with you, economic issues may come about, you may receive a bad diagnosis. Things are going to happen that you can’t control.

b. God’s plan revealed- In John chapter 3, verse 8, Jesus said this:

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it’s sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” In other words, if you are born of the Spirit, if you put your faith in Christ, the Spirit of God takes up residence in your life, you begin that Wild Goose chase, and what happens is this—you aren’t going to know where you are going or what is coming most of the time, and that’s a good thing! It’s right where God wants you to be. See Jesus likened the workings of the Wild Goose to the wind. Sometimes it is a light wind, and sometimes it is gale force winds in our face. Think about this, resisting the Wild Goose is like spitting into the wind. So what you need to do is, you need to begin to cultivate that moment-by-moment sensitivity to the Spirit of God.

Let me tell you a CLOSING STORY and then I want to share one last promise with you.

STORY- In 1921, the Philadelphia Church in Stockholm, Sweden sent a couple of missionaries by the names of Mr. And Mrs. Flood, to the Congo, (which is modern day Zaire), and they went with their one-year-old son, and their project was to set up a missionary compound in the jungle. In fact, they used machetes to get back into the area where they were going. Their first year there, they didn’t see a single convert, the area was very hostile. They actually went with another missionary couple named the Ericsons. The truth is, people looked to the medicine man and to witchcraft for spiritual guidance, but there was one little five-year-old boy that used to come to the back door of the Flood’s house and he would sell chickens and everyday, Mrs. Flood would tell him about the love of Jesus. Shortly after he started coming to their house, Mrs. Flood gave birth to their second child, a little girl named Aggie, and 17 days after she gave birth, Mrs. Flood died and Mr. Flood was absolutely broken. He decided to take his son back to Sweden and gave Aggie to the Ericsons, and left and never returned to Africa. The Ericsons raised Aggie for a couple of years. She was their only child. Then when Aggie was about three years old, Mrs. Ericson died. Mr. Ericson lost it emotionally and spiritually and he gave Aggie to two American missionaries named Arthur and Anna Burge, and three days later, Mr. Ericson died. It was later discovered that the villagers had poisoned him to death. The Burges then returned to America and pastored a church in South Dakota and Aggie grew up and eventually attended Central Bible College and it was there that she met D.V. Hurt and got married. NOW STICK WITH ME HERE, BECAUSE THERE IS A PROFOUND POINT TO BE MADE!

Eventually D.V. Hurst went on to be President of Northwestern Bible College. Now, fast forward 30 years… D.V. and Aggie Hurst attended the World Pentecostal Conference in London, England. About 10,000 delegates from around the world were gathered at Royal Prince Albert Hall and one of the speakers that night was Ruhigita Ndagora, the Superintendent of the Pentecostal Church in Zaire where Aggie’s parents had been missionaries. And he informed the audience that night that there were hundreds of churches and 110,000 baptized followers of Christ in Zaire. And as he spoke, Aggie did a little mental calculating and afterwards, spoke to him through an interpreter and she asked if he knew of the village where she had been born, and he said he grew up in that village. In fact, he said, ‘I used to go to the back door of the Flood’s house and sell chickens and she would tell me about Jesus, and one day I accepted Christ.’ He said, “Shortly after that, he died and her husband and son left and she had a little girl named Aggie and I’ve always wondered what happened to her.” Through the interpreter, Aggie said, “I’m her.” And he began to sob uncontrollably. They embraced, held each other for several minutes and finally he said, ‘Just a few months ago, I placed flowers on your mother’s graVe on behalf of the hundreds of churches and thousands of believers in Zaire. Thank you for letting your mother die so that so many of us could live.’ WOW!!

Conclusion: YOU NEVER KNOW HOW, WHAT MIGHT SEEM LIKE A COMPLETE FAILURE, IS SOMETHING GOD TURNS INTO A GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT. God has the ability to turn our failures into someone else’s miracle. Isn’t that what He did with Paul? Shipwreck, snakebite, but it turned into a miracle for everybody on that island. The shipwreck, to Paul, seemed to be a complete failed mission, but you never know how God is going to turn it around and use it for His purposes. Romans 8:28 says, “We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to His likeness, the likeness of His Son so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.” You are going to experience some shipwrecks and some snakebites along the way. Failure is part of life. But I want to remind you that God is going to get you where God wants you to go. More importantly, He is going to make sure that you become who He wants you to be in the process. And if there, through the shipwrecks and the snakebites, you actually become more like Christ, then you will have not experienced failure in your life. Those things can’t cage you, they actually become the platform for what God wants to do in your life.

You know what the enemy is going to do, when you experience another failure, the enemy is going to want you to throw in the towel altogether, to forget it. Maybe you are in a tough spot right now, but my prayer is that God, through His Holy Spirit, would give you that unshakeable sense of destiny. He is not done with you yet. I believe I can say prophetically and biblically that your best days are in front of you. I claim that for every follower of Christ. Your best days are in front of you. Amen.

“Cage of Guilt”
from the book “Wild Goose Chase” by Mark Batterson
Sunday, November 7, 2010: Luke 22:31-34

Introduction: I’m loving this series on The Wild Goose Chase; I hope you are as well! If you’re anything like me, you love success stories. I think they are motivating, I think they are inspiring. But I’m going to be honest with you, because of my sinful nature, there are times when I actually feel good about hearing a story of failure. Why is this? I have asked myself this question, and I realize it is because when someone fails, I feel better about myself because it wasn’t me who failed. I know that is bad, but if most people were honest, at times they have felt good when they have heard about the failures of others. THAT IS BECAUSE WE TEND TO COMPARE OURSELVES TO OTHERS!
This morning we are looking at the disciple Peter. Peter is this guy who, when you’re feeling bad about yourself, it can be encouraging to look at his early life as a disciple. Peter will be used powerfully by God in the end, but he makes many mistakes along the way. So, let’s take some time to look at Peter and see what we can learn from him through his guilt, and his breaking free with Jesus’ help.

I. Peter’s Boldness- (Luke 22:31-34)

a. Conditioned responses- In Luke 22:31 Jesus is telling Simon Peter:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you Simon, that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But Peter replied, (and you have got to love how Peter speaks with boldness and confidence): “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times, deny that you even know me.”
Story: Around the turn of the 19th century, a Russian psychologist and physician named Ivan Pavlov did some groundbreaking studies that won him a Nobel Prize. The study was that dogs naturally salivate to food. The truth is, many humans do as well. But Pavlov wanted to see if salivation could be caused by another stimulus and as you may recall from a high school Science class, Pavlov conditioned the dogs by ringing a bell and then feeding them their food. Eventually, the ringing bell, even without the food, would cause salivation. And Pavlov referred to this learned relationship as a conditioned reflex.
If you were to think about it, there is something that you have been conditioned to, that will cause you to salivate. It exists in your life, you’re just not aware of it. Maybe it is passing by a donut shop; maybe it is the name of a type of food; for me, when I hear about Double Blueberry Cream pie at Marie Calendars, I start to salivate for the taste! To one degree or another, all of us are Pavlovian. We’ve been consciously or subconsciously conditioned our entire lives and much of our behavior is dictated by these conditioned reflexes.
Over the course of our lifetime we acquire an elaborate repertoire of conditioned reflexes. Some of them are minor idiosyncrasies, like a nervous laugh or a half-smile or a twitch. Others become major personality traits. I think a critical personality is often born out of psychological insecurity: we criticize in others what we don’t like about ourselves. Some conditioned reflexes are as normal and as natural as a blush, others are as destructive as drinking to drown your sorrow. But big or small, conscious or subconscious, harmless or harmful, one thing is certain, we are far more conditioned than we realize.

b. Allowing God to recondition us- Part of our spiritual growth is
being able to recognize how we’ve been conditioned and allow God to recondition us. A familiar pattern of speaking for Jesus was: “You have heard that it was said, but I tell you…” This is Jesus’ way of trying to recondition us. The ‘you have heard that it was said,’ is Jesus reminding the people of what they have been taught and what they believe.” The ‘but I tell you,’ is Jesus getting ready to teach them what they need to understand as God’s truth; how God would have them to live. So in His teaching, in His reconditioning of us, Jesus tells us to ‘turn the other cheek,’ and ‘go the extra mile,’ and ‘pray for those who persecute you,’ and ‘love your enemy.’ These are not natural reactions for us, we must be reconditioned so that we might live how God wants us to live.
Now let me turn our attention to “guilt,” because today we are talking specifically about the cage of guilt and how being in this trap, in this cage, keeps us from living the spiritual adventure and the Wild Goose chase. When we sin, GUILT IS ACTUALLY A HEALTHY AND HOLY EXPERIENCE. Thank God for the conviction of the Wild Goose; thank God for how He gives this response to you. It is God, in essence saying to us: “I love you enough that I’m not going to let you hurt yourself, I’m going to convict you, I’m going to prompt you in a way so that you know that what you are about to do or what you have done is going to take you to the wrong place and eventually you are going to become who you don’t want to be.”
So thank God for the conviction of the Holy Spirit. However, some of our conditioned reflexes are like these psychological straight jackets that immobilize us emotionally or relationally or spiritually. I think false guilt is a great example of this. The moment we confess our sin to God, our sin is not just forgiven, it is forgotten. Isn’t that wonderful?! When was the last time you said, “God thank you that your grace is enough, that your grace is sufficient.” For most of us, it is far easier for us to accept God’s forgiveness than it is for us to forgive ourselves. Why? Because we can forgive, but we can’t forget. And if we don’t allow the grace of God to really saturate and sanctify our sinful memory, then at this point we experience false guilt. False guilt comes when we have confessed our sin, but we haven’t forgiven ourselves, and we don’t forget what we have done. False guilt causes us to punish ourselves again and again. We become so fixated on past mistakes that we forfeit future opportunities. We mistakenly think that our sins disqualify us from God using us and what happens is this, our feelings of guilt become the cage that keeps up from chasing the Wild Goose.


II. Jesus Loves Us Out of Our Cage- (Luke 22:54-62; Romans 5:8)

a. Peter in the cage of guilt- Let’s go back to Peter, and see how Peter
ends up in this cage of guilt. Listen to Luke 22:54-62, “Then seizing him, they led Jesus away and took Him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance but when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, ‘This man was with him.’ But he denied it. ‘Woman, I don’t know him,’ he said.”
Now let’s stop for a moment to make an observation: Peter really gets a bum rap here, because even though he denies knowing Jesus, he is there by Jesus. Where are all the other disciples? None of them got close enough to get caught. Continuing… “ A little later someone else saw him and said, ‘You also are one of them.’ ‘Man, I am not!’ Peter replied. About an hour later another asserted, ‘Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.’ Peter replied, ‘Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.’ And Peter went outside and wept bitterly.”
I’ll tell you what, looking at Scripture through the lens of Ivan Pavlov is an interesting exercise and Peter makes an interesting case study. I have read this story countless times, but it wasn’t until I was reading over this series, and the words of Mark Batterson, that he helped me to think about this: How do you think Peter reacted the rest of his life each time he heard a rooster crow? I would imagine that every time a rooster crowed, it took him back to these feelings of guilt and reminded him of how he denied Jesus three times in Jesus’ greatest moment of need. Every time a rooster crowed, it put Peter right back in the cage of guilt.
This story, and this cage, should remind us of a tactic that hasn’t changed since the Garden of Eden. I’ll tell you exactly what the enemy wants to do, he wants to remind you of what you’ve done wrong/ over and over and over again, and then he wants to remind you again and again and again, because he wants you to live in the cage of guilt, wants to, in a sense, condition your spiritual reflexes with guilt. He wants to hurl accusations at you. And Jesus came to recondition our spiritual reflexes with His grace so that we are no longer reactionaries, but rather revolutionaries for His cause. Not living in the cage of guilt but living this spiritual adventure that He called us to.

b. Leading us out of the cage- Let me point out to you one little
sentence in this passage that is easy to overlook, but it is there for a reason: the sentence is, ‘At that moment, the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.’ Have you ever noticed that sentence? It’s almost there as a footnote in the text but I think it speaks volumes. The split second after Peter denies knowing Jesus, Jesus looks straight at him and makes eye contact. I don’t think it was a look of condemnation, because we just read how Jesus told Peter he would deny Jesus three times. Jesus not only knew that Peter would deny Him three times, but He also KNEW that Peter would beat himself up over this. Jesus knew that this could cause Peter to give up on Himself, but Jesus would never give up on Peter.
Eye contact is a powerful thing. Turn and look for a moment at the person next to you. Look them in the eye, Okay, look back up here. When you look someone in the eye there will be different feelings. Right now it probably was very uncomfortable because this isn’t what you would normally do. If you look at your spouse in the eye, it often is an intimate and close feeling. When you look someone in the eye, there is a connection. If you look at your children in the eyes when they have done something wrong, it is convicting for them. When Jesus looks Peter in the eyes, I think it is a look of love. Jesus is trying to show Peter LOVE in what would become one of Peter’s lowest times in his life. In essence, Jesus was saying with this look: “Peter, look at me. Look at me. I forgave you before you even denied me. I just want you to know I haven’t given up on you. We are still in this thing together.”
I’m not sure what mistakes you’ve made. I don’t know what sinful memories are etched into your brain. I have no ideas what failures form that cage of guilt in your life, but I do know this — God hasn’t given up on you. It is not in God’s nature to give up on you, and God doesn’t want you to give up on yourself. I think at a very fundamental level, if you can grasp this spiritual truth, you are going to be ok. Those times in our lives when we fail so badly that we feel absolutely unworthy to receive the grace of God is the time when we need most to look in the eyes of Jesus, and like Peter, see that look of love gazing back at us!
Jesus loves us with an incredible grace. As Romans 5:8 tells us: “For God showed His love for us in this, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God doesn’t wait until we get our act together before He starts showing us love. When we are at our worst, God is at His best.

Conclusion: I’ve preached a couple of times on how this story has ended, So let me recap for you. After Jesus has been resurrected, Peter has gone fishing. Jesus appears to Peter, and has a lunch with Peter. Three times during the lunch Jesus asks Peter: “Do you love me?” Three times Peter tells Jesus that he does. I truly believe that this was Jesus’ way of restoring Peter to ministry, and of letting Peter say “I’m sorry Jesus for denying You.” I believe it is Jesus telling Peter that He believes in Him, and for Him to go back to “fishing for men.”
Imagine the adventure that Peter would have missed out on if he had given up on himself, or thought that God had given up on him. The places he went, the people he met, the things he did, the miracles that God did through him, what a life of spiritual adventure. There was a moment he could have gone back in the cage of guilt and lived there forever, but he didn’t do that, and I think it is because of what Jesus does.
Jesus knew something about conditioned reflexes before Ivan Pavlov came along. Peter failed three times, Jesus reconditioned him three times. But that’s not all that took place: in John 21:4, we are told that this all happened right after daybreak; or right after the rooster crowed. Jesus’ timing was purposeful. Jesus wanted to break Peter of his conditioned response, because He knew Peter wouldn’t be free of his cage of guilt until he was. After this, I would imagine that the rooster’s crow no longer brought him feelings of guilt, but rather it was a reminder of God’s grace. Maybe now the rooster’s crow produced feelings of gratitude toward God.
As we share in communion together this morning, let this meal be a reminder of God’s grace, and let this grace break you out of your cage of guilt. Sin minus grace produces guilt. The cage of guilt can capture us at any time, But with this communion meal, Jesus asks us: “Do you love me.” And by partaking of the meal together, we are telling Jesus, ‘Yes, I love you.” And Jesus tells us, be free of your guilt, and live the spiritual adventure. Amen.