Life With An EDGE: An Every Day God #3
INTRODUCTION:
I remember reading a book of letters from
children to their pastor. One of them read: “Dear
Preacher, I’d like to bring my dog to church on Sunday. She is only a mutt, but
she is a good Christian. Love, Sissy. PS I’m sorry I can’t leave more money in
the offering plate on Sunday, but my Daddy won’t give me a raise in my
allowance. Maybe you could give a sermon about a raise in my allowance. It
would help the church get more money.”
I like that little girl. Not only was she
concerned about her dog but she also concerned about the stewardship of her
church. She wanted to enable her church to get more money.
We’ve been talking about our Every Day God
and how God helps us keep our Christian Edge, by Enriching our lives and
Equipping us with the tools of A Holy Heart, A Holy Boldness, and Holy Words so
can carry out the mission of the church which is making Disciples.
Today we’re going to talk about some of
the ways God Enables us to live as
Disciples. God’s tool box has an abundance of tools and we can’t examine all of
them. But these will help us see how God Enables us to live Every Day as
Disciples.
Let’s look at the passage from 1
Corinthians 1:18-31, I think it speaks to God’s enabling Spirit.
1 Corinthians
1:18-31 (NRSV)
[18] For the message about the cross is foolishness to
those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of
God.
[19] For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the
wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
[20] Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the
world?
[21] For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not
know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our
proclamation, to save those who believe.
[22] For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,
[23] but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block
to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
[24] but to those who are the called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God.
[25] For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and
God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
[26] Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not
many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were
of noble birth.
[27] But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame
the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
[28] God chose what is low and despised in the world,
things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,
[29] so that no one might boast in the presence of
God.
[30] He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who
became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and
redemption,
[31] in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who
boasts, boast in the Lord.”
This passage reminds us that while our
message might seem foolish to some, it IS the wisdom of God and Every Day God
is the source of [our] life in Christ Jesus. As the source of our life, Every
Day God Enables us live as Disciples.
I. ENABLES US TO PRACTICE:
A. First, Every Day God Enables Us To Practice
our faith. Now I’m not talking about the kick the tires, check the shocks,
start the engine and let’s go for a test drive kind of practice. I’m talking
about the kind of practice that athletes do to get ready for the big game; the
kind of practice that accomplished musicians do to hone and strengthen their
skills. The kind of practice that conditions us, heart, soul, mind and
strength, as we seek to serve God Every Day. The kind of practice that Enables
us to live in this world but not of this world. And that’s hard to do without
the help of God..
B.
How many of you have watched the TV
series “Chuck?” Basic idea was a young man who works for Buy More (a Best Buy
type store) has an old college friend and enemy send him an email with an
attachment which he opens. It just happens to be all the information from a
sophisticated government experimental computer where all the information is
stored in the pixels of digital images. It’s called the Intersect. The speed of
the pictures being displayed pulled Chuck into a trance like state where all
the information of the Intersect became stored in his brain. The only problem was,
he couldn’t access it like the info on a computer. Instead, stuff came to him
in flashes.
He became one of the most valuable people
on the planet and two US agencies worked with him. He became a spy whose cover was
his real life. Every week, his real life and being a spy collided. In one scene
Chuck talks to his partner about it. He says: “I’m getting way to comfortable lying and sneaking around all this spy
stuff, okay. I’m starting to feel that that is my real life.”
His partner says: “It’s all to be expected. It’s an existential spy crisis of sorts.”
Chuck says: “It used be all compartmentalized, you know, Chuck World and Spy World.
But when I watched those ambulance doors close and my sister was behind them
with that sweaty nuclear spy freak, my worlds collided.”
It’s hard to live in this world and not be
a part of it. We’re surrounded by it. We’re immersed in it 24/7. We struggle
with it all the time. I struggle with it. But what God helps us remember is
that this is all temporary. This isn’t our true home. I home is with God. We
belong to God and live in God’s Kingdom, which currently intersects the daily
life of the whole world, which puts us in “an
existential crisis of sorts.”
That sounds foolish to some, but we’re
only here for a short time compared to spending eternity with Christ. Scripture
says Jesus is preparing that place for us right now, so that where He is we can
be also.
That’s God’s desire for us, to be with Him.
So, Every Day, God Enables us to Practice our faith so that we CAN live in this
world but not of it. So, we can live what Jesus taught in a world that sets its
own rules.
II. ENABLES US TO PERSEVERE:
A. Second, Every Day God Enables Us To Persevere.
Jesus said, “In this world you will have
trouble, but take heart, I’ve overcome the world.” Jesus knew that we would
face adversity in life. It’s a part of life. There are times when adversity
strikes all of us.
Bobby Bowden, retired Florida State
University Head Coach, is the all time NCAA Winningest Football Coach in a
Major University. His team took Two National Championships in 1993 and 1999. His
final game was the 2010 Gator Bowl which FSU won 32-21 against his former
program at West Virginia.
Bobby Bowden says: “When everything else is equal on a football team and the team your
playing, it’s usually which team has got the best leadership. You know? You
simply are not gonna win all the time. You’re gonna lose some, you know it? And
to me, a coach’s success, somebody says: “What do you have to do to be a
successful coach?” I say, “You gotta get over the bad times.”
“If
you never had adversity you ain’t gonna be nothing. You have got to have
adversity to build your character and find out how tough you are and find out
how good your judgment is.”
“You’re
gonna have adversity, you know? There’s gonna be times where you’ll think you
do not more deserve to be a football coach than the man in the moon. But you’ve
got to overcome it. You’ve got to fight your way through it. You can’t listen
to outside opinion.”
B. At
the end of his career Bowden faced some bad times and had to vacate 12 of his
wins because of ineligible players on the team, which put him in second place
behind Joe Paterno.
But in a very real sense what Bowden said is
right. Jesus said: “In this life you will
have trouble.” But in the midst of those troubles we can’t listen to the
outside opinion of the world. We have to call on the One who overcame the world;
the One who said “I will not leave you
orphaned;” the One who promised “I am
with you always, even to the end of the age.” We have to listen to the
guiding of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit reminding us what Jesus said.
And when we do, our Every Day God Enables us
to Persevere and walk with the One who has overcome every kind of adversity,
Jesus
III. ENABLES US TO PRAISE:
A. Third, Every Day God Enables Us To Praise.
When we are strengthened and enabled to Practice our Faith, when we’re
strengthened and enabled to Persevere and overcome adversity our hearts want to
sing, they want to give thanks, they want to rejoice. And we do that by
Praising God. Every Day God Enables us to Praise.
B. There’s a great African-American
spiritual titled “Ain’t Got Time To Die.” It was written by Hall Johnson and
the words are filled with so much joy:
“Been so busy praising my Jesus,
Been so busy working for the
Kingdom,
Been so busy serving my Master
Ain’t got time to die.
If I don’t praise him,
If I don’t serve him,
The rocks gonna cry out
Glory and honor, glory and honor
Ain’t got time to die.”
I just love those words, “I’m so busy praising and serving Jesus that
I ain’t got time to die.” That’s exactly how we feel when we’ve overcome
adversity. It how we should feel about what we are called to do Every Day, Because
Every Day God Enables us to Praise Him.
IV. ENABLES US TO PROCLAIM:
Once we Practice our faith, Persevere
through the adversities of life and begin to sing Praise to God. Our Every Day God Enables Us To Proclaim. That’s
our first Call remember, to Go and Tell and make Disciples. And when God has
walked with us and strengthened us Every Day, we not only want to Praise God,
we want to share the good stuff that’s been happening in our lives because of
God.
Rev. Wayne Brouwer says when he was pastor
in his first congregation he sat in the home of one of his members and the
husband said to him, “You’re more
evangelical than we are.”
Rev. Brouwer was stunned for a moment,
wondering what the man could mean. So he asked.
“Well,”
said the man, “we like to keep our faith
to ourselves.” (1)
I remember as a child I was told to keep
my hands to myself when my brother and I got into trouble. I can remember being
told by a teacher to keep my smart aleck comments to myself but I don’t
remember Jesus saying to keep my faith to myself.
The way I understand Scripture that’s not
an option. Jesus didn’t call any of us into the Secret Service. We’re not
called to be incognito Christians. We are a Called and Sent People. It’s not
something we can keep to ourselves. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so we could
keep it a secret. The message that changed our lives, never would have survived
into the 21st century if someone back then hadn’t been willing to Proclaim it.
Besides, when you’ve got good news, you
want to share it. When you get a new car, you want to drive it. If you buy a
new 60 inch High Definition LCD or Plasma TV, you invite people over so they
can see it. You want to share it.
It should be no different in our daily
Discipleship. When you’ve got good news and God has gotten you through a tough
time, you naturally want to share that good news with somebody. And Our Every Day God Enables Us To Proclaim
that Good News.
CONCLUSION:
William Sloan Coffin, former CIA agent and
former pastor of Riverside Church in New York City said: “We have learned to soar through the air like birds, to swim through
the seas like fish, to soar through space like comets. Now it is high time we
learned to walk the earth as the children of our God.”
Our
Every Day God Enables Us To Practice our faith; Persevere in hard time; Praise
God for God’s care and strength. And Our Every Day God Enables us to Proclaim
the Good News.
Our message might seem foolish to some,
but it IS the wisdom of God and Every Day God is the source of [our] life in
Christ Jesus. As the source of our life, Every Day God Enables us to live as
Disciples. All we have to do, once again, is let ourselves be used by God.
Will you do that? Will pledge to open your
heart, soul, mind and strength so God can use you and enable you to be a tool
in God’s toolbox? All it takes is faith and trust in God. That’s the challenge.
Are you up to it?
This is the Word of the Lord for this day.
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Bibliography
1. “Promiscuous Preaching” by Wayne Brouwer,
Preaching, May/June 2000, p. 40.
2.