Sunday Sermon – Life Is How You View It

We are faced today with two competing worldviews, two ways to view and interpret the realities around us and ascribe value and priorities to the days that lie ahead.

The meaning, purpose, and value of life comes into sharper focus when we view it through the lenses of a proper worldview.

 

Worldview #1 – The CHRIST-CENTERED Worldview

– based on a Relationship with Jesus
– is constantly growing in this relationship (John 3:30 – He must increase…)
– does not waver in commitment to Jesus – established

Worldview #2 – The SECULAR Worldview

– Pseudo-intellectual
– Man- Centered
– Devil-Driven

The Christian worldview is superior because Jesus has given us:

– full salvation
– total forgiveness
– ultimate victory

 

Jesus’ un-Common Core Math

A new approach to learning, called Common Core, is all the conversation in these parts of late. Plenty of people line up on either pro or con side of the learning method, and I have no intention of wasting precious blog space debating its effectiveness. One thing Andrea and I learned last night while helping Bekah study for a math test, however, is that students do not learn math today the way we learned it in our day. Common Core seems UNCOMMON to our core way of thinking.

As I went to bed last night, I was thinking about how Bekah’s math is like a Biblical teaching God has been dealing with me about over the last four months. God has an UNCOMMON way of doing math as well.

One day after Jesus had finished teaching His disciples about restoration and forgiveness, Peter came to Jesus and asked, “How many times shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Seven times?” Peter was not trying to solve a mathematical word problem, but rather find God’s bottom line in a grace he wished he was not required to extend. He thought maybe after seven extensions of forgiveness, he would no longer be required to forgive.

Jesus replied with UNCOMMON CORE math. “I tell you, not as many as seven, but 70 times seven.” Jesus was not, however, telling Peter that he only had to forgive his brother 490 times, he was teaching him that forgiveness is perpetual. Jesus followed up with a parable about forgiveness in which the main point is that since we have and do daily freely receive forgiveness from God, we also should daily freely forgive others who have hurt us.

One difficult lesson is that if I want to be a stickler about Jesus’ math and only forgive 490 times, then that number is per person, per offense, per day. Forgiveness is a CHOICE and I choose every day to forgive the same offense over and over. Every time the devil brings the hurt to my attention, I heal the hurt by choosing to forgive. Some days I do better on the test than others, but eventually I pray I become a master as Jesus’ lesson on forgiveness and UNCOMMON CORE.

What past hurts are you holding? Let me encourage you to CHOOSE forgiveness… perpetually…daily… until the hurt is not longer a hurt. Eventually the devil will get the message and stop wasting his time bringing the hurt to your attention.

(The conversation between Jesus and Peter and the ensuing parable mentioned above can be found in Matthew 18:15-35.)

Maybe You Need a “Spiritual Root Canal”

rootcanalA root canal is a procedure that goes below the surface of a diseased tooth and removes the diseased matter, replacing it with synthetic material that keeps the tooth safe and in place. I love a quote I found on Wikipedia’s entry on Endodontic Therapy (what real dentists call the procedure), “Although the procedure is relatively painless when done properly, the root canal remains the stereotypical fearsome dental operation…” YA THINK?!?!?!

We can learn a spiritual lesson from the root canal. I have encountered several unhappy, miserable people in my life who live their lives angry, hurt, and defeated. However, anger, hurt, and defeat are not problems themselves, but symptoms that something is wrong “beneath the surface of the tooth” so to speak. The Bible calls it bitterness, an ongoing spirit of unforgiveness that affects a person’s spiritual, emotional, and even physical well-being.

One may best describe bitterness as an unsettled anger and resentment over a past hurt or disappointment. Bitterness is a refusal to extend grace to those who hurt us. Bitterness chooses (notice I said chooses) to hold on to hurt. Consider what the Word says:

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled… – Hebrews 12:15

Bitterness, like a root, begins unseen, and continues to seethe beneath the surface. But bitterness cannot stay hidden for long – it erupts like a volcano spewing boiling lava of resentment. Bitterness creates trouble for the one who harbors it.

First, bitterness affects our body. Studies link bitterness to increased heart trouble, high blood pressure, gastro-intestinal disorders, and sleep disorders, as well as a number of other physical maladies. Our minds control what happens in our bodies, and an unforgiving spirit keeps our nervous systems churning at an unhealthy rate.

Even more dangerously, bitterness affects our spirit.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. – Psalm 66:18

The Psalm reminds us that as long as we hold on to an intentional known sin, we are choosing its fellowship rather than God’s fellowship. God commands us to forgive, so not forgiving is sin. Holding on to unforgiveness prevents us from fellowship with God.

Also, bitterness affects our relationships – it “defiles many.” One person’s bitterness becomes another’s hurt when a bitter person carelessly slings the hot lava of resentment. I once heard a saying I have found to be true: “Hurt people hurt people.” A bitter person is negative, complaining, and argumentative; never a joy to be around, but rather a nuisance to be avoided.

Let me encourage you to do a bitterness audit of your life. Has someone caused you the kind of hurt that you enjoy revisiting? Have life’s disappointments created a scab that you cannot stop reopening? Acknowledge your hurts and their sources. Release your offenses and let God wash you clean. Sure, you may have to do it countless times for every offense, but the liberation and healing is worth it.

Spiritual Cancer

Cancer is a most insidious disease.  I’ve read that all of us carry cancer-causing carcinogens in our bodies, and for many those carcinogens lie dormant for years, sometimes forever.  At some point, a trigger activates a particular carcinogen and cancer begins to grow unknown to the person hosting those cancer cells.  By the time a diagnoses detects cancer, it has become dangerous and radical treatment is in order.

Bitterness is to the spirit what cancer is to the body – an insidious but destructive hidden element that grows until it does its carrier harm.  Consider wise counsel from God’s Word:

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled… – Hebrews 12:15

Notice that bitterness begins as a root.  Something happens to me that I do not like, someone hurts me or attacks me, or I harbor ill feelings toward someone that I refuse to resolve.  The negativity inside of me seems harmless, no one knows about it but me, and the few(?) people to whom I express my displeasure, but if I am harboring unforgiveness, and if I do not release the hurt I am feeling, then trouble looms.  My untreated bitterness will result in the hurt of others.  Just as an oncologist proactively and radically deals with cancer, so also we must radically deal with unforgiveness before it becomes bitterness and if it’s too late, then deal with the bitterness before it explodes.

Notice the verse above cautions, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God…”  Since we have received grace from God, we need to extend grace to others.  If you have been hurt, let go, forgive.  Forgive as often as the hurt tries to return, over and over, daily, several times a day.  Ask God to heal your hurt and live in the freedom of forgiveness.  If you ask God to give you enough grace to forgive those who have hurt you, He will give you enough to have plenty left over for yourself to heal your hurt.

Thankful for My Limp

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You would have thought he had experienced enough pain. Because of his deceitful ways, Jacob had infuriated his family and had to run away from home to escape his brother’s wrath. He went to live with a distant relative, fell in love, and planned to marry, only to experience deceit himself when his uncle tricked him into marrying the older, less attractive sister. Finally, he got the wife he wanted, but after fourteen years of living with his uncle, the tension was already at a boiling point and it was time to leave again.

He took his wives and his belongings and decided to head home hoping to make amends with his family. This man who took pleasure in getting his way by deceiving others now bore the soul pain of being deceived. For once in his life, he knew how those he had deceived felt, and finally he was remorseful. Nevertheless, he wondered if his brother would be gracious or vengeful.

The evening before the last leg of his trip home, he sent his family, his possessions, and the peace offering to his brother on ahead, and he stayed back to prepare himself and to reflect. As he slept that night, a stranger awakened him and a wrestling match ensued that lasted the whole night. Jacob held his own, and his sparring partner finally asked to be released. Jacob refused to release him without a blessing. This wrestling match changed Jacob’s life; a change signified by a name change from Jacob, which means “deceiver” to Israel, which means “one who struggled with God.” The rest of the story of course is that Jacob and his descendents finally settled and inhabited Palestine and became the nation of Israel.

However, if we read the story too hastily, we miss a subtle blessing in the story. During the wrestling match, Jacob’s opponent dislocated Jacob’s hip. Genesis 32:31 tells us that Jacob was “limping because of his hip.” He got his blessing, but in the process, he received a permanent reminder of this encounter with God: a gimpy hip. Every step he took, he lived with the memory of this life-changing encounter. I could think of a better souvenir – maybe a tee shirt, mug, or pin, but Jacob had a painful and constant reminder of the struggles he went through, lest he forget that the blessing of God comes at a cost, the cost of humility and sacrifice.

I have a few gimpy joints in my soul too. People have hurt me, circumstances have disappointed me, sins have beset me; but through it all, God has brought me through and given me a blessing while in the struggle. I am learning to see my limp as a reminder of the goodness and grace of God. Yes, I am thankful to walk with Jacob’s limp. It reminds me that I am not what I want to be, but praise God, I am not what I used to be.