The purpose for broken people.

In Romans 12, we see the handling and treatment of difficult people, of those who have hurt us, and our response to them. But this little side road on cracked pots letting out the light has developed into a bit of a longer detour than I first intended.  We will get back to Romans in time, but let’s enjoy the scenery along the way and maybe pick up a few thoughts on why we are broken.

2 Corinthians 1 1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: 2Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.6And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.7And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

It is important to note that God is the God of all comfort: But knowing that we still ask :That is all well and good, God is a God of all comfort, but why? Why does it have to be like this? Why am I going through this? Why has God chosen me? The question we are asking today is:  Is there a plan and is there a purpose in my pain, in my affliction

 Note Paul has suffered, so have you. Suffering is part of the curse left by sin.
One common misconception about suffering is this:  “if you are spiritual you will never be confused, never get in a tizzy, you'll never shed a tear, you'll never buckle under pressure. In life you will always have success.”

 Forget that, this is absolute nonsense! The greatest men in the Bible were men that at times were   greatly perplexed, in great distress, great tribulation, some of them in great depression.  Charles Spurgeon   prayed that God would never put on you what God put on him in his life! Don't think that because you're going through trouble, that in some way God is punishing you - that might be the case, but it's not always the case.

Another  common misconception is that life should be easy and have no hardships, But That’s not life, is it.Now the sooner, as believers, we grab hold of that the better. For some of us live in a dream world where nothing goes wrong and we don't expect any trouble.

 If you turn to chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians, we see that life was not like that for Paul. He was beaten, he was whipped, he was put in prison, he was out on the ocean in shipwreck, he was despised, told lies about, he was chased by false prophets - men swore upon their own lives in fasting that they would kill him before they would eat. Life is not easy, there was never ever a promise that it would be so. So forget about those two things, put them to death now - one: that you're unspiritual if you suffer and if you're perplexed, and two: that life ought to be a breeze
Now God allows things into our lives..I don’t know why. BUT God knows why. Several things suggested by this passage.

We said God is the God of all comfort and the Father of mercies.When dark,you have to trust that. Believe there is a purpose, Thank God for the purpose and praise him .
Asaph is the Psalmist who wrote

Psalm 57  1Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast  2I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. 3He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. 4My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. 5Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.6They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah. 7My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. 8Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.9I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.10For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. 11Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.

He is in difficulty and IN THE MIDDLE OF IT, verse 7 he makes a decision: I am in a pit BUT I am determined to sing and give praise. THAT is the realization that God is on this.  see, he says awake my glory, get stirred up inside me ,my soul. Have faith. Is that easy? NO, but it is essential to your growth (impossible to pleas him w.o faith) God wants to be trusted.

  This is where the rubber meets the road - and this is where I fail so much in my life.  God loves to be trusted'. God loves to be trusted! Do you trust Him? I mean, do you really trust Him? The One who says the hairs of your head are numbered  when you read the Gospels - In George Mueller's biography   the writer A.T. Pierson quotes  the Gospel writers emphasis on God's care for us in our trials. He says that it speaks of the odd sparrow, do you remember the odd sparrow? If you look to Matthew 10 you will find that it records there that two sparrows are sold for a farthing, two sparrows for one farthing. Now if you go to Luke chapter 12, you find there that five sparrows are sold for two farthings. Now why is that? Well, it would appear that when the man was buying four sparrows that the man who was selling threw in an extra sparrow for nothing - have you got that? In other words that fifth sparrow, that odd sparrow, was of little value and so worthless that it was able to be given away with the other four. Yet God says through the Lord Jesus, even that one sparrow is not worth being taken into the account of that man's deal, but God cares for it!   God cares for what the world thinks is worthless and hopeless - to Him it's priceless. Not one of them, He says, will be forgotten. Not one of them will fall to the ground without God knowing it - and what a force, when the Lord illustrates it like that, and then He comes to His children and says: 'Fear ye not therefore, for ye are of more value than many sparrows'.

But , back to 2 Cor. not only that we may trust God, believe he has a plan and purpose: Also that  we may pass along the comfort we have gotten from the Lord.

I have often stated that if I have a diagnosis of Lymphoma, the first person I am going to talk to is Jim. Why? He has walked there, he understands, he has been through things and can help me. 

 In our trials and troubles we can shine a light of confidence in God (that grows by the way) I remember Carmen, trusting God through her cancer. She was growing..(told her daughter-in-law “I’m not exactly thrilled over this you know ). Steve Brown stated once that when a pagan gets cancer God lets a believer get it so the world can see the difference. I am not sure that's good theology, but IT OUGHT to shine out in practice.

And when we suffer and grow in understanding and hope,then suddenly there is another person in our lives and we can come along side them in their distress.

I got this e-mail this week and it seemed appropriate.

Come with me to a third grade classroom....... There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet.. He  thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened.  It's never happened before, and  he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives...
 The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his  head down and prays this prayer, 'Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat.'

He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.

As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's lap.

 The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is  saying to himself, 'Thank you, Lord! Thank you,  Lord!'

 Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All  the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful . But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else - Susie.

 She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You've done enough, you  klutz!'

 Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and  whispers, 'You did that on purpose, didn't you?'  Susie whispers back, 'I wet my pants once too..'

This girl had the right heart. She had God’s heart in the matter and we need it too.

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Rom 15:4

The shouting from the boat

This is  a sermon from my archives, I bring it out again with purpose today. I want to talk about FAITH today, faith both in and out of the boat, faith that holds Peter up as well as faith that upholds Peter.

Matt. 14: 22 -33 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dispersed the crowds. And after he sent the crowds away, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.
  Meanwhile the boat, already far from land, was taking a beating from the waves because the wind was  contrary  or against it.
 As the night was ending, Jesus came to them walking on the sea.
 When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified and said, "It's a ghost!" and cried out with    fear.   But immediately Jesus spoke to them: "Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid."
 Peter said to him, "Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water."
 So he said, "Come." Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus.
 But when he saw the   wind boisterous he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"
 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"  When they went up into the boat, the wind ceased.  Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
 
  Once again we find ourselves not really understanding, not really being in the mind set of these people. We somehow have a "storybook" larger than life idea about these plain old average men, the disciples of Jesus.  People just like you and me.
We really think that they were just a little taken back by what they saw... But lets put ourselves in their sandals just a moment and see what life would have been like if WE were there.

Look  at v. 24 My old King James makes this poetic and calm  saying ." The wind was contrary"
 
 Don't you get a picture of a naughty little breeze playing tag across the surface of the gentle water? Well honey, guess again. What that word means is "these suckers were sailing against the wind.. (I sang a line from that old song here)

So right off things aren't ideal, right off they are bucking a stacked deck... all they want is to rest and they have to fight this wind that won't co operate....and a little further down we see that the wind was also "boisterous". That means it was violent, strong... its the same word we  use to say a strong, mighty man. So this isn't just a playful breeze here.. its hard going and they are just like you and I and do not love hard going...so here they are struggling and trying awful hard not to lose patience with each other... well, probably not awful hard if you know these disciples... and suddenly the work stops NOW.

I mean everyone just freezes in place and not a tack line or rudder is touched...and you know why already but you don't understand the cold chill of fear that froze these men in their tracks..  not unless you have ever been out at night with friends  far from anything and have started talking about vampires and wondering if the really do exist and then from the old stone barn  across the barely moonlit field you see a huge bat gliding towards you then you have some idea of what these guys were feeling.. and  in a boat you can't put in B for boogie... so you just freeze, and maybe the water in your immediate vicinity gets slightly warmer for a second or two.

These guys had just seen Jesus turn a few loaves and fish into a mega-meal that fed over 5000 people.  They had handed out the grub and were blessed with twelve baskets full left over...12 baskets full? How many disciples? 12 right? you see already Jesus is saying to them...  I am not only the provider to the masses who come to see me.. I am provider to those who  come and serve me. 

 But now, the guys are out of sight of Jesus, they can't see Him that is, He of course knows their whereabouts and as we will see He is never too far away to answer our cries of need.   They really did see something, it was terrifying.. Once more the poetic language softens the blow," 26  And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

 I looked up that word in the Greek too... it says,"to strike ones spirit with fear and dread"

   These guys were scared and they cried out for FEAR, that is phobos...terror, or dread... this is no picnic, it makes Stephen King look like Momma goose... this is real and its now and  then this ghost speaks: V.27 "Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.".

   Now is where the real fun begins: Now the bold brassy brave blustery   boy Apostle steps forth... still a little  on the nervous side and says,"  "Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water." (Same test as Thomas but we call him doubting T)

      If you or I were one of the twelve, what would we be thinking about now? NO I don't mean the retrospective Sunday school answer, I mean honestly, when someone else stands and faces the fear and looks toward Christ and dares grasp the plan of God, the vision of what God can do, wants to do, what would you be thinking?

    I guess our feelings would differ depending on our relationship with Jesus at the moment...trusting John might be saying  , whew, it must be Jesus... Thomas might be saying, Peter you fool, don't talk to it, you have no idea what it is.  Matthew might  just be sitting stunned like most of the rest...Judas, just stuffed the money bag under a seat tied to His PFD so it and he would not drown.

    I really don't know, but possibly some of them may have been a little peeved with Peter, or maybe ashamed that they didn't say it? Who knows... but remember they are just like us, and Peter is entering a difficult walk of faith... and though he and they may not know it, what they do and say does matter very much.

 Now Jesus calls," Peter Bar Jonas, Come on Down" Now the test of faith begins... we talk a lot about the beginning of testing and the end of trials, but we don't talk a lot about the middle of trials...we need to... we need to  so we know how to help others walk as well as walk ourselves.

What is needed in our trials is what Peter needed in this walk of faith...endurance, the strength not to sit down and turn away but to walk.. Peter started well, He had faith...didn't need new faith, only needed to use the faith that he had... its like muscles...we all have the same amount of muscles but for some reason I look a lot different than Vin Diesel  Its exercise of those muscles that makes the difference.  So Peter starts out exercising his faith. That's what you need to do too-exercise the faith you have  not wait for some "new faith"or some new zap from God. But faith will never grow ,apart from endurance.

There's no such thing as instant faith or instant endurance... we shrink when we are immobile. So good old Peter exercises His faith. HOW? By stepping out firmly on the water.  That's how faith gets to be real you know, when it turns into action.  Other than that its only theory, useless.
 You say you believe the bible?
It is revealed PROPOSITIONAL TRUTH.
Meant to be acted upon

 Lets go back into the boat, the very quiet boat for a minute... what do think they are thinking as bold, Peter steps out? "Hmmmmph, it'll serve the turkey right if he sinks" or "who duz he think he is?" or perhaps, "Man, if my name meant 'rock', I don't think I'd try to walk on water."
  Remember, they are just like us and we get attitudes, don't we.
Now lets speculate as to what is going on, or might be if we were in that boat watching Peter try to do something that was innovative and new and different and risky.

 Now I think that the first guy into action would be dear doubting Thomas, planting a seed  in Peters mind as he called out "Peter, don't be a fool, you can't walk on water, that's not Jesus calling you, its your own over inflated sense of importance,  you can't do it, you'll fail"

I think so  because whenever anyone steps out and tries to follow God's call to come closer to Him, that is quite often the reaction they get too. "You'll never make it, you can't do it, are you really sure its God, I think you just want to go have a good time or  be   famous"

    Then there is always the Judas, the keeper of the purse, I think maybe you'd hear him calling out to Peter,"Peter, you won't make it, consider the odds, water doesn't hold people up, it never has and never will."

 Like Judas, many of us are troubled with  what one writer (Jack Miller in Outgrowing the Ingrown Church)calls,"Spiritual tunnel  vision" we have to see the visible means of support, and can't seem to stretch out in faith that God provides when God guides."

 I'm sure dear Andrew was concerned as Peter walked out of the boat,"Peter, please don't make a fool of yourself, he would say half aloud, but maybe our friend Andrew would hold his tongue and see, after all, HE had just handed out a ton of loaves and fishes.

   I don't know who said,"We ain't never done it that way   before", but I guarantee you in a group of Christians someone did.

And I can't imagine who said,"What will people think" but rest assured that old show stopper was around then too.

I speculate on all this, of course, but it is because of what happened next.
 v. 30  But when he saw the   wind boisterous he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"
     Peter saw the wind... did you ever see the wind ? Peter did. Perhaps it was his natural inclination to look away from Jesus, but as we speculated, the cat calls from brothers could have had a lot to do with it. You see, Jesus wants us to uphold each other and support each other and just like those guys, we let each other down.

What would have happened if instead of saying it couldn't be done, and dragging Peter down so he sank like a rock there had been a different kind of chatter in that boat?    What if Andrew had been shouting"Go brother, go for it, yes, keep your eyes on him".
    What if Philip had been just as loud saying,"Remember the loaves and fishes Peter, He will keep you up, trust HIM."

     What if The doubter had said,"Yes Peter, I am with you and your faith inspires me to believe" and what if the  old and worn"we ain't never done it that way before" became" Wow, Peter, you are breaking new ground for the body, go for it."

And what if "what will people think" became "WOW wait'll they hear this babe."
    What the body of Christ needs in this "boisterous" sea we live in is some cheer leaders. What your pastor and his bride need, what the church leadership needs, WHAT you all as the body of Christ need at this bold moment in this assembly is this: Cheerleaders who are hollering twice as loud as the world.

    We are embarking on a project so big that it may seem foolish to some. We are seeing some of our people step out of the boat and walk toward Jesus on the water in an attempt to replicate his feeding of the 5000 just past. My dear friends, we need to really consider what out task is in regard to this monumental task.

    You need to be saying things to each other like" we are here behind you, go for it,  Keep your eyes on Jesus uphold righteousness ....and we need to be letting them hear it. We need the faith to be innovative and use what God has given us, jump out of the old shaking, wind tossed boat and step out in faith, exercise the little faith we have and go for it.

    And we who will step out, need cheerleaders to lift us up, not anchors to drag us down. We need supporters, we need each other to help us keep our eyes focused on Jesus.
    We need to quit putting our own self interests first and meet the needs of others, by praying instead of watching TV, by being holy instead of  caving into pressures. BY daring to step out and say, " I belong to the king, and I will not be defiled with the things of earth."

   Yes Steve, but what if we do that and it goes sour? What if our mission doesn’t reach it’s goals? What if we fall?  what if what if what if... Look at vss  31 -33

  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"  When they went up into the boat, the wind ceased.
 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

LISTEN!! LISTEN !!!

EVEN when Peter listened to his doubts and fears, Jesus never failed. Even when he was trapped into feeling that Jesus wasn't enough, Jesus never failed.
Even if your friends turn away, Jesus never fails, even if your mission falters, Jesus never fails, even if you are thought of as  too venturesome Jesus never fails.

Get the message? Jesus had a 40 foot arm right? I mean he immediately stretched forth His hand and caught him. No It doesn't mean that Jesus has a 40 foot arm, IT Just means that no matter how far away you think HE is, HE is never far at all.

   And you know what? Look at verse 33: They that were in the boat.... did what? WORSHIPPED JESUS.

Do you think that God only gets glory from your successes? Then you are wrong. God gets glory from your failures if he so desires. He just did with Peter. Why?  Because Peter stepped out and if you step out the world can watch as Jesus catches you... ...have you?  Have you dared to step out? Or are you just content to sit in the boat and rock it once in a while? (row or rock)

 Are you still seeing the storm and the ghost? Or are you standing up on the edge hollering,"GO FOR IT PETER BABY, YOU CAN YOU CAN YOU CAN.(as Peter did with wife)

I am going to close in a minute,  As your pastor I see the Feed My Starving Children venture as WAY beyond me,  But  I am not going to listen to people in the boat who are drag anchors any more.  We are going to see more people struggling with life issues, more people stepping out to work on short term missions. How will you respond?

Kathryn, Kendra,  well done. Kiki, We are PUMPED! We need to encourage and get a little of the fire that burns in our mission returnees.   The have entered  raw bold reality, by walking on the water to Jesus and not sitting in the boat all soggy and trying to dampen everyone else.

 When did our commitment to Jesus get so laid back as not to be visible?

We are all foreign missionaries, we are strangers and aliens , we are not of this world.  We are called to carry a simple message, beggars remember? Beggars who have been called to show other beggars where to find bread! Jesus loves you and wants you to have a great forever.

We have people from our church involved in short term mission outreach,  encourage them.
Places like Japan,and Zambia and Haiti.

We have people working in summer camps this year.  Cheer them on. Go for it Katie, Jay, Ben, Zach and Kendra. Go with GOD’S strength.

We have people attempting the impossible to feed the starving of the world and the hungry of Maine.... do not let them forget that it is GOD who calls

People, you are either a cheer leader for Jesus or a part of the problem which is it?

I can do all things through Christ who Strengthens me
I can do all things through Christ who Strengthens me
I can do all things through Christ who Strengthens me
I can do ALL things through Christ who Strengthens me
I can do ALL things through Christ who Strengthens me
I can do ALL things through Christ who Strengthens me

It is God who works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure.
Folks get out the pom-poms, start writing those encouraging notes and collecting pictures of dead presidents and let us be the cheerleaders that might JUST have kept Peter afloat. That just MAY keep those attempting such a faith walk to keep their eyes on Jesus as well.
remember to tell them:

You can do ALL things through Christ who Strengthens you.