27 February 2011
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Colossians 1:21-23
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[a] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
-- it should be no secret to any of you now that I am somewhat of a movie geek -- I really like movies -- and I think this all goes back to the way I learn things -- I believe I am a visual and auditory learner -- in order for me to learn things, I really have to hear it or see it rather than just read it
-- and I have found in my life that I tend to retain things better when I can see it or when I can hear someone talking about it in a lecture -- I think that’s one reason why I don’t read a lot of nonfiction -- it just doesn’t stick with me the way it does when I watch a documentary or hear a lecture on the subject
-- there’s just something about seeing it on the big screen that brings it all home to me and I really can grasp what’s going on in the big picture -- which, for me, is pretty amazing -- I tend to get hung up on the details, especially when I read, but when I watch movies, I am able to step back and see the whole story as it unfolds and I’m better able to really get what is going on
-- I guess that’s why I really like movies that have a story that is greater than what is on the screen -- movies that have depth and that mean more than just what they’re showing on the surface -- that’s one reason I always look forward to this time of the year when Christianity Today puts out their list of the Top 10 Redeeming Films of the past year
-- every year when this list comes out, the first thing I do is add all of them to my Netflix queue and move them up to the top of the list because I know these are going to be movies that I am really going to get a lot out of
-- a lot of the movies on this list you probably have never heard of, but they all have one thing in common -- every single one of them have an underlying theme of redemption and hope -- in every one of them, you see how the lives of the characters and those around them are redeemed -- how they’re lifted up out of their circumstances and given a hope and a dream that propels them on to new heights and to new adventures and to new lives
-- you know, maybe one reason why I like these movies so well is that I can relate to them -- because, if you stop and think about it, aren’t they really about us? -- aren’t they really about what Jesus has done for us?
II. Scripture Lesson (Colossians 1:21-23)
-- that’s what Paul is saying here in this passage as he writes to the church at Colosse -- a small group of believers that were being led by one of Paul’s disciples -- a man named Epaphras
-- Epaphras had written to Paul and asked for help because some in the church were starting to believe in a false teaching that said that they had to do more to be saved than just receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior -- this false teaching told them they had to follow certain rituals and call on angels and do other things above and beyond what Jesus had said and what Paul had taught
-- so Paul writes this letter to the church at Colosse to remind the Colossians of the grace and the redemption and the hope that they had in Christ and in Christ alone -- he reminds them of the story of their life -- of who they used to be before Jesus -- of who they were now because of Jesus -- and of who Jesus wanted them to be in the future
-- let’s look back at this passage and see what we can learn about the story of our own lives through Paul’s message to the Colossians
-- look back at verse 21
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[a] your evil behavior.
-- “once” -- isn’t that the way all good stories begin? -- “once” -- “once upon a time” -- that’s the way Paul says that the story of our lives begin -- “once upon a time there lived a man -- once upon a time there lived a woman -- and their lives were not good”
-- Paul reminds us of who we used to be -- he says that we were alienated -- separated -- cut-off -- from God -- that’s like being cut-off from life itself
-- that’s like a cut flower in a vase -- it looks nice -- it smells nice -- but it’s as dead as dead can be because it is alienated and separated from the source of life -- no matter how much you prop it up -- no matter how much water you add -- eventually, that flower is going to fade and it’s beauty is going to pass away and it’s going to wither and be no more
-- that was us -- that’s who were -- alienated from God -- alienated from life with no hope and no future
-- and, to make it worse, not only were we alienated from God but we were the enemies of God -- we had been deceived by temptation and sin and we liked who we were and we didn’t like the God who came along and offered something better -- we thought we were happy living in our own little pit of despondency and despair and when someone offered a hand to redeem our lives and to pull us up, we slapped it away
-- this, Paul says, is who you were -- remember what your life was like -- remember who you were before Jesus
-- verse 22
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
-- but just when things seemed their darkest -- just when it seemed like all hope was lost -- just when we realized the mess that we had made of our lives and understood that we couldn’t get out of this pit on our own -- the Savior came riding into the story like a hero on a white horse
-- Paul says that Jesus reconciled us -- He brought us back into a relationship with the Father -- by offering His own body on the cross at Calvary -- through His death -- through the shedding of His blood -- Jesus atoned for our sins and paid the price to redeem us from sin and death and to bring us once more into fellowship with God
-- Romans 5:8 says while we were yet sinners -- while we were yet in that pit of sin and despair -- Jesus died for us
-- this, Paul says, is who you are now -- once upon a time you lived in a pit -- but now, through the death of the Savior, you have been made holy in the sight of God -- without blemish -- free from accusation and guilt -- spotless before your God and your King
-- Paul is reminding the church at Colosse of who they were at that very moment -- there was nothing else that needed to be done -- there was nothing else that needed to be added -- the blood of Christ had redeemed them and washed them clean so they stood before God holy and blameless in His sight
-- they didn’t need to add unnecessary rituals and traditions -- they didn’t need to call on any other spiritual beings -- they didn’t have to do anything more -- all they had to do was accept the gift of grace that Jesus offered through His own body and blood and to live the new life that He had given
-- in verse 21 Paul said, “This is who you were” -- and here in verse 22 he tells them, “This is who you are”
-- but Paul doesn’t leave it there -- look down at verse 23
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
-- “This is who you are to become”
-- just like your story did not end in the pit of sin and death -- your story doesn’t end at the cross -- your story is just beginning
-- Paul urges the Colossians to “continue” in their faith -- the Greek word he uses here literally means to “persevere” or to press on
-- Paul says “continue” in your faith and press on to take hold of the hope that you have in Christ -- do more than just settle at the cross and wait for death to take you -- continue to write the story of your life
-- this is what I call a “now what?” moment -- these are times in your life when something has changed -- something big and dramatic that demands a response
-- you graduate from school -- you get married -- you get a job -- you lose a job -- something happens -- a new chapter begins -- and you think to yourself, “now what?” -- and then you realize, “I have to do something”
-- that’s what Paul is saying here to these Christian believers in Colosse -- remember who you were -- remember what you used to be and how you used to live before Jesus came along
-- look at who you are now -- look at what Jesus has done for you -- look at how your life has started over -- how you have been made holy and righteous and blameless before God
-- and then, by urging them to continue on in their faith, he asks them, “now what are going to do with what you have been given?”
-- the Spiderman movie of a few years ago made this quote famous -- “with great power comes great responsibility” -- that’s what Paul is saying here to this church -- you have a responsibility now to do something with the redemption you have been given
-- he goes on to say, “this is the gospel that you heard -- this is the gospel that has been proclaimed and that I am the servant of” -- and the implication is there -- follow my example -- do something with your life -- continue in your faith and write your story in the lives of others
III. Closing
-- in the paraphrase, The Message, we read the following in 1 Cor 1:9, "God, who got you started on this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of His Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that."
-- we can’t forget that we ARE in the midst of a great spiritual adventure -- an adventure that is being written out in our lives every single day -- God called us from the life that we used to be living -- He rescued us from the miry clay and the pit that we were living in and He washed us clean through the blood of Jesus so that we might start this new adventure -- that we might begin a new story with Him -- that we might continue in our faith
-- the question I want to leave you with this morning is what is your story going to look like? -- at the end of your life, when others gather around to remember who you were and how you touched their lives, what are they going to say about you? -- will they remember a life filled with hope -- a life lived with faith -- a life that cared enough about others to get up and make a difference in this world? -- or will they struggle for words to describe and for remembrances of the past?
-- we have been given a great opportunity -- Christ Himself has delivered us from sin and death and put our feet on a new path -- He has given us a blank page to write the story of our life on -- so what will you write? -- what will you say? -- what will you do?
-- with those thoughts in mind, I want us to close today by sharing together the sacrament of Holy Communion -- because through the sharing in the body and blood of Christ we are reminded of what He has done for us -- we are challenged to live up to the calling that He has placed on our lives -- and we are reassured that He is with us as we write into the story and lives of others
-- so, as Seth leads us in our last song, let’s prepare our hearts and our souls to receive Holy Communion
-- let us pray
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
SERMON: THE END IS NEAR?
22 May 2011
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 24:3-8
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
-- I heard about these two men who were standing on the side of a road not far from here holding up a sign that said, “The end is near” --as they were standing there, a car came flying down the road -- the two men waved at the driver and raised their sign up and down to make sure he saw it
-- when the driver saw them, he honked his horn and put his fist in the air and yelled out to them, “You crazy religious nuts! Get out of here -- no one wants to hear your stupid stuff!” -- and he sped up and kept going down the road
-- All of a sudden, the men heard tires squealing and the sound of a large splash -- they looked at each other and one of the men said, “I told you we should have just written ‘Stop! The Bridge is Out!’”
-- as I’m sure everyone in here is aware, Harold Camping, a Christian radio host from California, predicted that the rapture would occur on March 21st, 2011 and that the end of the world would follow five months later -- with the world ending on October 21st, 2011
-- Camping based his assertion on a mathematical formula using numerology and the repetition of numbers in the Bible to come up with his prediction that the world would come to an end 7,000 years after the flood of Noah, which he dated at 4,990 B.C.
-- and while most Christian groups did not agree with Camping or his prediction of May 21st as the day of the Rapture, the media and the world took a profound interest in his assertion and waited to see if this latest prediction of the end of the world would come to pass -- in fact, earlier this week, Google reported that searches related to Camping’s prediction took up four of their top 10 search positions for the week
-- now that May 21st has come and gone, we can be sure that Christians are going to be faced with ridicule and mocking because of Camping’s failed prediction -- even though most Christian groups did not agree with Camping, the odds are that we will get lumped in with the “religious nuts” and you’ll see news story after news story and jokes from late night entertainers about Christians and the end of the world
-- and, more than likely, your friends and family who know you are a Christian may come up to you and ask you about Camping and his prediction and what the truth really is -- so I wanted to spend some time this morning discussing eschatology -- the fancy word for the study of the end of the world or end times theology
-- now, as we go through this today, I want you to keep in mind that there is probably no greater division or difference of opinion in the church than on end times theology -- understandings and beliefs about the end times vary greatly depending on the church and the denomination and the individual
-- some people regard the end times prophecies in the Bible as merely symbolic and do not believe that the world will come to a cataclysmic end with Christ’s return -- others believe in the return of Christ but not in the descriptions of tribulation that follow -- while others believe in a literal understanding of all of these prophecies, including those found in the Book of Revelation
-- so, keep in mind that in the Christian church, there are vast differences in beliefs and understandings about the end times -- you really need to read the scriptures on your own and look up what the various scholars have said about the end times and come to your own understanding of what you think the Bible is saying
-- the thing to remember is that eschatology is not a criteria for salvation -- it is one of those things that we can agree to disagree about in the church -- believing in the imminent return of Christ will not save you any more than believing that the prophecies are merely symbolic will save you -- salvation comes through putting your faith in the atoning death of Jesus on the cross and believing in the resurrection and the promise of eternal life that Jesus offers
-- let me go ahead and tell you up front which camp I belong to -- I tend to take a literal understanding of the Scriptures unless the meaning is clearly symbolic -- in school, I learned the principle of Occam’s Razor, which basically states, “the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one” -- and this is what I apply to Scripture
-- so, I believe in a literal understanding of end times theology -- including the rapture, the Tribulation Period, the second coming of Christ followed by the millennial kingdom when Christ rules for 1,000 years, and then the final judgment and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth -- this would be considered a very conservative view and very similar to the teachings of Tim LaHaye, one of the authors of the Left Behind series
-- so let’s look back at this passage in Matthew and see what we can learn about the end times from Jesus
II. Olivet Discourse
-- before we begin, let me give you a little background on this passage -- Matthew Chapter 24 is called “The Olivet Discourse” -- which is just a fancy way of saying that Jesus gave this message on the Mount of Olives -- “Olivet” -- to His disciples
-- The Olivet Discourse is Jesus’ message about the end times -- both the end of the nation of Israel and the end of the world in general -- it is found in all three synoptic gospels -- Matthew, Mark, and Luke -- but Matthew has the greatest amount of material on this discourse
-- look at verse 3
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
-- this message by Jesus comes in response to the same questions that drove Harold Camping to make his prediction -- when will the world end? -- when will Jesus come back?
-- right now, the world seems to be focused on these types of issues -- with the tremendous natural disasters that we have seen over the last decade -- tsunamis -- earthquakes -- floods -- hurricanes -- famine -- wildfires -- volcanoes -- the list goes on and on -- people are looking at all of this and saying, “Surely the world can’t survive” -- when will the end come? -- how will the end come?
-- and, so, right now, everyone is interested in end times -- we’ve seen Harold Camping’s prediction of the rapture and the end of the world this year -- the Mayan calendar prediction of the end of the world on December 21st, 2012 -- and, just yesterday, I was watching a program about the Georgia Guidestones near Elberton, which also warn of the end of the world based on ancient prophecies
-- Jesus’ disciples weren’t immune to this wondering -- so they came up to Jesus and asked Him, “When is this going to happen? -- when is the world going to end?”
-- let’s look at Jesus’ response
-- verse 4
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
-- basically, what Jesus is telling His disciples here is “Don’t worry” -- He is saying, “Don’t get all caught up in worrying about when the end is going to come or how it’s going to happen” -- don’t think that just because you see natural disasters or wars or famines that it means that the end has come
-- all of these things have happened throughout human history -- we’ve always had wars and rumors of wars -- we’ve always had earthquakes and natural disasters -- we’ve always had false messiahs and false religions -- Jesus says, “This is not cause for concern for those who know Me -- these things will always happen -- it’s not a reason to panic”
-- but, He tells us in verse 8, that these things are the beginning of the birth pains -- or, as the KJV puts it, the beginning of sorrows
-- I think it’s interesting that the NIV uses the term “birth pains” -- because this leads to an interesting analogy -- first, when you have a birth, that means a child is coming -- so, in this case, who is it that is coming? -- we would have to say that Jesus was talking about Himself and His second coming
-- secondly, what happens when a woman goes into labor? -- she begins by having contractions and pain that comes minutes or hours apart -- and then, as the time grows near, these contractions get closer and closer together until finally she gives birth
-- assuming that Jesus is making this same point about the false messiahs and wars and natural disasters, we can say that as the end of the age draws near, that we should see these things occurring more and more often and closer together than ever before
-- skip down to verse 32
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[a] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[b] but only the Father.
-- now, contrary to what Harold Camping believes, we don’t know the exact day or hour when Jesus will come back -- we don’t know when the rapture will occur or when the end of the age will come -- but, according to Jesus, we can know when it is close at hand
-- Jesus uses the example of the fig tree to make the point that His followers should know when the times are getting close -- think about it -- we can tell when it’s about to be spring and summer, can’t we? -- we start seeing the trees get their leaves -- we start seeing the birds migrate back through -- the temperatures start rising -- we know when the season is near at hand
-- Jesus says we’ll know the same thing about the end of the age -- when we start to see all of these things that He has been talking about coming to pass more and more often we should recognize that the season of the end of the age is near -- that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen today or tomorrow -- it could -- but it could also happen 100 or 500 years from now -- near doesn’t mean immediate -- it means close
-- one other thing about Jesus’ use of the fig tree in His example -- in the Bible, the fig tree sometimes represents the nation of Israel -- so, Jesus could be saying here that when we see the nation of Israel restored -- when we see the Jews come back into their homeland again -- that it means that the end is near
-- 40 years after Jesus was crucified, in 70 AD, the nation of Israel was totally destroyed and the temple was torn down -- for 2000 years, there was no nation of Israel and the Jews were dispersed throughout the world, living in other countries -- but, on May 14th, 1948, the Jews came home and the modern nation of Israel was recognized -- is this what Jesus is talking about in His example of the fig tree? -- that’s quite likely -- and this may be yet another sign that the end of the age is near
-- one thing that we need to keep in mind that Harold Camping forgot was verse 36 -- "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” -- we can’t predict the day or the hour that Jesus will come back -- it’s not for us to do that -- only the Father knows the exact time that this will happen
-- we can know the season -- we can recognize the signs of the birth pains -- but the actual date and hour is not ours to know
-- verse 37
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
-- Jesus it makes clear here -- when the end of the world does come -- when Jesus does return -- the world is not going to be expecting Him -- it won’t be like this weekend when all of the media’s attention was on the prediction by Harold Camping that the world was coming to an end on Saturday
-- Jesus’ followers will know the time is at hand just as Noah knew the flood was coming -- Noah didn’t know the exact day or hour when the rain would start falling and we don’t know the exact day or hour when Jesus will come -- but we’ll know it’s soon -- however, the rest of the world will be clueless because they have chosen to turn away from the knowledge of the truth
-- and, so, Jesus tells us that when He does come back, one will be taken and the other left -- one will go to heaven to be with Jesus and the other left behind
-- the important thing to note here is that Jesus is definitely coming back -- Even though Camping got the date wrong, it doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is still coming back -- He tells us so right here in verse 42 and again in verse 44 -- that is a promise from God -- and we have to believe and trust in it and expect it to come to pass just as He said
III. Closing -- What Now?
-- so, what now? -- on the heels of the failed prediction by Harold Camping, what should we do as Christians and believers in the second coming of Christ? -- Jesus tells us right here in this passage
-- Jesus gives us the command to keep watch and be ready -- to watch and be ready means several different things
-- this means that we truly become disciples of Christ in our daily lives -- we live for Jesus everyday and not just on Sundays -- when we sin, we confess our sins and thank God for His forgiveness -- we maintain our relationship with Him by reading our Bibles and praying and worshiping Him every day
-- this also means that we are ready to share with others the hope that we have in Jesus and in His death and resurrection -- one good thing about Camping’s prediction is that people are talking about Jesus in the media and at the water cooler and in school -- we have an open door to share with people about Jesus and about our faith
-- we should use this opportunity to share with them the good news of salvation and let them know that they won’t have to worry about the end of the world if they would turn to Jesus in faith for the forgiveness of their sins -- it gives us the opportunity to let them know that through Jesus they would come to know a peace and a joy that surpasses all understanding and that removes all fear from their lives -- even the fear of the world coming to an end
-- Jesus goes on in this passage to talk about the faithful and wise servant who does what his Master has told him to do -- it is our calling as Christians to go and make disciples of the whole world, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit -- and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded
-- this is what a faithful and wise servant does -- and this is how we should occupy our time and bring glory out of this failed prediction by Harold Camping
-- so, let’s sum this up -- the message of this entire Olivet Discourse from Jesus is that, yes, the end of the age is coming -- it is ever closer -- and we will know the time when it is near
-- but, our focus shouldn’t be on the end -- our focus should be on our mission and our lives as Christ-followers -- we should concentrate our efforts on being ready -- both personally -- living lives of holiness and righteousness every day -- and missionally -- sharing the gospel of Christ with those around us so that they, too, might come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ
-- as we close in prayer today, I want to encourage you to take a moment and consider where you are with Jesus and make whatever changes you need to in order to restore and continue your relationship with Him -- and I want to encourage you to commit to sharing the good news of Jesus with those around you -- so that it won’t be your friends and your family who get left behind when the end does come
-- let us pray
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 24:3-8
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
-- I heard about these two men who were standing on the side of a road not far from here holding up a sign that said, “The end is near” --as they were standing there, a car came flying down the road -- the two men waved at the driver and raised their sign up and down to make sure he saw it
-- when the driver saw them, he honked his horn and put his fist in the air and yelled out to them, “You crazy religious nuts! Get out of here -- no one wants to hear your stupid stuff!” -- and he sped up and kept going down the road
-- All of a sudden, the men heard tires squealing and the sound of a large splash -- they looked at each other and one of the men said, “I told you we should have just written ‘Stop! The Bridge is Out!’”
-- as I’m sure everyone in here is aware, Harold Camping, a Christian radio host from California, predicted that the rapture would occur on March 21st, 2011 and that the end of the world would follow five months later -- with the world ending on October 21st, 2011
-- Camping based his assertion on a mathematical formula using numerology and the repetition of numbers in the Bible to come up with his prediction that the world would come to an end 7,000 years after the flood of Noah, which he dated at 4,990 B.C.
-- and while most Christian groups did not agree with Camping or his prediction of May 21st as the day of the Rapture, the media and the world took a profound interest in his assertion and waited to see if this latest prediction of the end of the world would come to pass -- in fact, earlier this week, Google reported that searches related to Camping’s prediction took up four of their top 10 search positions for the week
-- now that May 21st has come and gone, we can be sure that Christians are going to be faced with ridicule and mocking because of Camping’s failed prediction -- even though most Christian groups did not agree with Camping, the odds are that we will get lumped in with the “religious nuts” and you’ll see news story after news story and jokes from late night entertainers about Christians and the end of the world
-- and, more than likely, your friends and family who know you are a Christian may come up to you and ask you about Camping and his prediction and what the truth really is -- so I wanted to spend some time this morning discussing eschatology -- the fancy word for the study of the end of the world or end times theology
-- now, as we go through this today, I want you to keep in mind that there is probably no greater division or difference of opinion in the church than on end times theology -- understandings and beliefs about the end times vary greatly depending on the church and the denomination and the individual
-- some people regard the end times prophecies in the Bible as merely symbolic and do not believe that the world will come to a cataclysmic end with Christ’s return -- others believe in the return of Christ but not in the descriptions of tribulation that follow -- while others believe in a literal understanding of all of these prophecies, including those found in the Book of Revelation
-- so, keep in mind that in the Christian church, there are vast differences in beliefs and understandings about the end times -- you really need to read the scriptures on your own and look up what the various scholars have said about the end times and come to your own understanding of what you think the Bible is saying
-- the thing to remember is that eschatology is not a criteria for salvation -- it is one of those things that we can agree to disagree about in the church -- believing in the imminent return of Christ will not save you any more than believing that the prophecies are merely symbolic will save you -- salvation comes through putting your faith in the atoning death of Jesus on the cross and believing in the resurrection and the promise of eternal life that Jesus offers
-- let me go ahead and tell you up front which camp I belong to -- I tend to take a literal understanding of the Scriptures unless the meaning is clearly symbolic -- in school, I learned the principle of Occam’s Razor, which basically states, “the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one” -- and this is what I apply to Scripture
-- so, I believe in a literal understanding of end times theology -- including the rapture, the Tribulation Period, the second coming of Christ followed by the millennial kingdom when Christ rules for 1,000 years, and then the final judgment and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth -- this would be considered a very conservative view and very similar to the teachings of Tim LaHaye, one of the authors of the Left Behind series
-- so let’s look back at this passage in Matthew and see what we can learn about the end times from Jesus
II. Olivet Discourse
-- before we begin, let me give you a little background on this passage -- Matthew Chapter 24 is called “The Olivet Discourse” -- which is just a fancy way of saying that Jesus gave this message on the Mount of Olives -- “Olivet” -- to His disciples
-- The Olivet Discourse is Jesus’ message about the end times -- both the end of the nation of Israel and the end of the world in general -- it is found in all three synoptic gospels -- Matthew, Mark, and Luke -- but Matthew has the greatest amount of material on this discourse
-- look at verse 3
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
-- this message by Jesus comes in response to the same questions that drove Harold Camping to make his prediction -- when will the world end? -- when will Jesus come back?
-- right now, the world seems to be focused on these types of issues -- with the tremendous natural disasters that we have seen over the last decade -- tsunamis -- earthquakes -- floods -- hurricanes -- famine -- wildfires -- volcanoes -- the list goes on and on -- people are looking at all of this and saying, “Surely the world can’t survive” -- when will the end come? -- how will the end come?
-- and, so, right now, everyone is interested in end times -- we’ve seen Harold Camping’s prediction of the rapture and the end of the world this year -- the Mayan calendar prediction of the end of the world on December 21st, 2012 -- and, just yesterday, I was watching a program about the Georgia Guidestones near Elberton, which also warn of the end of the world based on ancient prophecies
-- Jesus’ disciples weren’t immune to this wondering -- so they came up to Jesus and asked Him, “When is this going to happen? -- when is the world going to end?”
-- let’s look at Jesus’ response
-- verse 4
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
-- basically, what Jesus is telling His disciples here is “Don’t worry” -- He is saying, “Don’t get all caught up in worrying about when the end is going to come or how it’s going to happen” -- don’t think that just because you see natural disasters or wars or famines that it means that the end has come
-- all of these things have happened throughout human history -- we’ve always had wars and rumors of wars -- we’ve always had earthquakes and natural disasters -- we’ve always had false messiahs and false religions -- Jesus says, “This is not cause for concern for those who know Me -- these things will always happen -- it’s not a reason to panic”
-- but, He tells us in verse 8, that these things are the beginning of the birth pains -- or, as the KJV puts it, the beginning of sorrows
-- I think it’s interesting that the NIV uses the term “birth pains” -- because this leads to an interesting analogy -- first, when you have a birth, that means a child is coming -- so, in this case, who is it that is coming? -- we would have to say that Jesus was talking about Himself and His second coming
-- secondly, what happens when a woman goes into labor? -- she begins by having contractions and pain that comes minutes or hours apart -- and then, as the time grows near, these contractions get closer and closer together until finally she gives birth
-- assuming that Jesus is making this same point about the false messiahs and wars and natural disasters, we can say that as the end of the age draws near, that we should see these things occurring more and more often and closer together than ever before
-- skip down to verse 32
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[a] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[b] but only the Father.
-- now, contrary to what Harold Camping believes, we don’t know the exact day or hour when Jesus will come back -- we don’t know when the rapture will occur or when the end of the age will come -- but, according to Jesus, we can know when it is close at hand
-- Jesus uses the example of the fig tree to make the point that His followers should know when the times are getting close -- think about it -- we can tell when it’s about to be spring and summer, can’t we? -- we start seeing the trees get their leaves -- we start seeing the birds migrate back through -- the temperatures start rising -- we know when the season is near at hand
-- Jesus says we’ll know the same thing about the end of the age -- when we start to see all of these things that He has been talking about coming to pass more and more often we should recognize that the season of the end of the age is near -- that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen today or tomorrow -- it could -- but it could also happen 100 or 500 years from now -- near doesn’t mean immediate -- it means close
-- one other thing about Jesus’ use of the fig tree in His example -- in the Bible, the fig tree sometimes represents the nation of Israel -- so, Jesus could be saying here that when we see the nation of Israel restored -- when we see the Jews come back into their homeland again -- that it means that the end is near
-- 40 years after Jesus was crucified, in 70 AD, the nation of Israel was totally destroyed and the temple was torn down -- for 2000 years, there was no nation of Israel and the Jews were dispersed throughout the world, living in other countries -- but, on May 14th, 1948, the Jews came home and the modern nation of Israel was recognized -- is this what Jesus is talking about in His example of the fig tree? -- that’s quite likely -- and this may be yet another sign that the end of the age is near
-- one thing that we need to keep in mind that Harold Camping forgot was verse 36 -- "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” -- we can’t predict the day or the hour that Jesus will come back -- it’s not for us to do that -- only the Father knows the exact time that this will happen
-- we can know the season -- we can recognize the signs of the birth pains -- but the actual date and hour is not ours to know
-- verse 37
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
-- Jesus it makes clear here -- when the end of the world does come -- when Jesus does return -- the world is not going to be expecting Him -- it won’t be like this weekend when all of the media’s attention was on the prediction by Harold Camping that the world was coming to an end on Saturday
-- Jesus’ followers will know the time is at hand just as Noah knew the flood was coming -- Noah didn’t know the exact day or hour when the rain would start falling and we don’t know the exact day or hour when Jesus will come -- but we’ll know it’s soon -- however, the rest of the world will be clueless because they have chosen to turn away from the knowledge of the truth
-- and, so, Jesus tells us that when He does come back, one will be taken and the other left -- one will go to heaven to be with Jesus and the other left behind
-- the important thing to note here is that Jesus is definitely coming back -- Even though Camping got the date wrong, it doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is still coming back -- He tells us so right here in verse 42 and again in verse 44 -- that is a promise from God -- and we have to believe and trust in it and expect it to come to pass just as He said
III. Closing -- What Now?
-- so, what now? -- on the heels of the failed prediction by Harold Camping, what should we do as Christians and believers in the second coming of Christ? -- Jesus tells us right here in this passage
-- Jesus gives us the command to keep watch and be ready -- to watch and be ready means several different things
-- this means that we truly become disciples of Christ in our daily lives -- we live for Jesus everyday and not just on Sundays -- when we sin, we confess our sins and thank God for His forgiveness -- we maintain our relationship with Him by reading our Bibles and praying and worshiping Him every day
-- this also means that we are ready to share with others the hope that we have in Jesus and in His death and resurrection -- one good thing about Camping’s prediction is that people are talking about Jesus in the media and at the water cooler and in school -- we have an open door to share with people about Jesus and about our faith
-- we should use this opportunity to share with them the good news of salvation and let them know that they won’t have to worry about the end of the world if they would turn to Jesus in faith for the forgiveness of their sins -- it gives us the opportunity to let them know that through Jesus they would come to know a peace and a joy that surpasses all understanding and that removes all fear from their lives -- even the fear of the world coming to an end
-- Jesus goes on in this passage to talk about the faithful and wise servant who does what his Master has told him to do -- it is our calling as Christians to go and make disciples of the whole world, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit -- and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded
-- this is what a faithful and wise servant does -- and this is how we should occupy our time and bring glory out of this failed prediction by Harold Camping
-- so, let’s sum this up -- the message of this entire Olivet Discourse from Jesus is that, yes, the end of the age is coming -- it is ever closer -- and we will know the time when it is near
-- but, our focus shouldn’t be on the end -- our focus should be on our mission and our lives as Christ-followers -- we should concentrate our efforts on being ready -- both personally -- living lives of holiness and righteousness every day -- and missionally -- sharing the gospel of Christ with those around us so that they, too, might come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ
-- as we close in prayer today, I want to encourage you to take a moment and consider where you are with Jesus and make whatever changes you need to in order to restore and continue your relationship with Him -- and I want to encourage you to commit to sharing the good news of Jesus with those around you -- so that it won’t be your friends and your family who get left behind when the end does come
-- let us pray
Sunday, May 15, 2011
SERMON: HEARING GOD THROUGH CIRCUMSTANCES
20 February 2011
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Job 1:13-19
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
-- this morning we are finishing up our series on hearing God -- we started out by looking at hearing God through His Word -- then we looked at hearing God through prayer -- and then last week we looked at hearing God through the church
-- this morning, we are going to look at the last way God normally speaks to us -- our circumstances
-- as we said, these four ways are not equal and they are not mutually exclusive -- when God speaks to you, He does so primarily through the Bible -- then He confirms what He has told you in the Bible through prayer, the church, and circumstances
-- one thing to keep in mind is that God will never ever tell us to do something that contradicts the Bible -- He will never ever tell us to do something that goes against His Word
-- that’s why I pointed out last week that we have to be careful when we think we have heard something from God, but we are only hearing it from one source like the church or our circumstances
-- the problem here is that sometimes people get it wrong -- even if they mean well, people sometimes give bad advice -- and if what they are telling you does not line up with what you are reading in God’s word, it is not from God
-- a pastor friend of mine had a couple come to him a couple of years ago for advice -- they both went to his church and they both were married -- just not to each other -- and they came to him and said that God was telling them that they should divorce their spouses and then marry each other
-- that was what their friends were telling them -- that’s what people in the church were telling them -- but this obviously went against what the Bible says -- yes, there are biblical grounds for divorce -- yes, I believe that divorce may be justified in the cases of abuse -- but these are extreme cases, and the Bible tells us that God’s plan for the family is for husbands and wives to stay together -- in 1 Corinthians 7, He tells us that a wife must not separate from her husband and a husband should not divorce his wife
-- my friend told these people that what they were hearing was not from God -- and he wisely counseled this couple to break off their relationship and to go back to their spouses and repair their marriages
-- so, we have to be careful that what we think we are from hearing from God lines up with what the Bible says -- this is especially true for our topic today
II. The Problem with Circumstances
-- more people are led astray by their circumstances than any other thing -- and they think that if their circumstances are pointing them to a certain area, then it must be from God
-- we’ll all heard that saying -- we’ve probably all said that saying -- “If God closes one door, He opens another one” -- or, sometimes we hear it as, “If God closes a door, He opens a window”
-- and that may be true, but you can’t rely on circumstances alone to determine if the door that is closed was closed by God or if the window that was just opened was opened by God
-- I heard a story a few years ago about this woman who was having problems in her marriage -- she decided to take some time just for herself and she went out west to the mountains -- she rented a little cabin out in the middle of nowhere and was going to spend the time reading and thinking and trying to figure out what to do in her marriage
-- well, as luck would have it, while she was there she happened to meet this guy who was everything her husband wasn’t -- and he swept her off her feet -- and she ended up having an adulterous affair
-- when it came time to go back home, she was torn and didn’t know what to do -- she got on the plane and started really missing the man back in the cabin -- so, she said, “God, give me a sign -- if I am not supposed to go back to my husband but am supposed to be with this other man -- close that door and open another one”
-- all of a sudden, the plane hit a pocket of turbulence -- the flight attendant came on the intercom and said, “The pilot has turned on the ‘Fasten Seat Belt’ sign -- everyone needs to return to the cabin and buckle their seat belts”
-- well, this woman heard that message -- “Return to the cabin” -- and she took that as a sign from God -- as soon as the plane landed, she booked a flight back to the cabin and the man she had had an affair with and divorced her husband
-- looking at circumstances alone led her to do something that clearly was not God’s will and that was contrary to God’s message in His Bible
-- one of the big problems with circumstances is that we try to make them fit what we want to do -- we use them to justify our behavior and our actions -- rather than trying to find out what God is saying to us through them
III. Scripture Lesson (Job 1:13-19)
-- here in this passage in Job, we see the problem that can arise if we try to ascertain the will of God from our circumstances alone
-- this book -- the Book of Job -- is the oldest book in the Bible -- most scholars agree that Job was probably a contemporary of Abraham -- they lived in the same time and same area and there are indications in the Book of Genesis that they may have known each other and may have actually been related
-- in verse 1 of this chapter we learn that Job was a very Godly man -- the Bible tells us that he was blameless and upright -- he feared God and shunned evil -- Job was a good guy trying to live his life for God when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, disaster struck
-- look back at verse 13
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
-- one minute, Job is going through life -- following God -- doing what’s right -- not harming his neighbor or anyone else -- he’s an upright, outstanding citizen in his community -- a leader who is well-respected
-- and, then, Job has a bad day -- a really, really bad day -- it starts out when a servant rushes up and tells him that raiders have come and stolen his oxen and his donkeys and killed all of his servants
-- and then, while he’s still talking, another servant comes up and tells him that all of Job’s sheep and all of his shepherds have been killed -- and while Job is hearing this news, yet another servant comes up and says that a different band of raiders has swept down and stolen all of his camels
-- and then the worst of all -- he gets news that all of his sons and daughters have been killed in an accident
-- keep in mind -- this has happened in the span of moments -- Job has gotten all of this bad news within just minutes of each other -- can you imagine the shock that he is feeling -- the pain that he is suffering
-- here is a Godly man -- trying to do his best and not cheat anyone or do anyone any harm -- and all of a sudden, he has lost his wealth and his family forever
-- but, things just get worse -- over in Job Chapter 2 we read that Job loses his health -- he gets afflicted with painful sores that cover his whole body from the soles of his feet all the way to the top of his head
-- so, here’s the question -- if you were looking only at Job’s circumstances, what conclusion would you come to about what is going on in his life?
-- if this happened in your life, what would you think? -- what would you think God was trying to tell you?
-- well, Job has three friends who come by who have all the answers -- they look at what has happened to Job and they tell him they know exactly what is going on -- “You have sin in your life -- you have done things that are wrong and God is punishing you for them -- repent of your sins and turn back to God and maybe He will quit punishing you”
-- we kind of think that way, too, don’t we? -- we may not say this exactly that way, but that’s kind of what we believe? -- “if you do good things, good things will happen to you -- if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you” -- Christian Karma
-- Job’s friends were convinced -- the only reason bad things like this happened to a person was because they were bad and had done bad things themselves
-- but that doesn’t jibe with what we know about Job -- the Bible tells us that he was holy and blameless -- he feared God and shunned evil -- Job wasn’t bad -- he didn’t do bad things -- but bad things happened anyway -- so, what’s going on?
-- Job’s story continues for 42 chapters, and eventually, God Himself comes and speaks truth into the situation and lets Job and his friends know that everything that has happened to Job -- all the bad things that have come his way -- were not Job’s fault
-- they were not the result of sin in Job’s life -- there not because Job was bad or because he had done bad things -- these circumstances were a plan of Satan to get Job to turn away from God
-- but here at the start of this book -- at the start of this story -- Job didn’t know that -- he just knew that his circumstances were bad -- and if he had just looked at them alone and not sought God’s word on the situation, Job might have gotten the wrong idea and gone off and done something that would not have been what God would have wanted
IV. God’s Perspective
-- so, how can we use our circumstances to help us know what God wants us to do? -- or, in another way, how do we look at our circumstances from a Godly and Biblical perspective rather than a worldly perspective?
-- to start with, we need to keep in mind the two ways that God uses circumstances to speak to us
1. first, He uses circumstances to confirm what He has previously told us in His Word -- as we’ve talked about before, God primarily speaks to us through the Bible -- but then He confirms this in other ways -- and as we seek to know and understand what He is telling us, then we will see all four ways -- the Bible, Prayer, Church, and Circumstances -- start to line up and we’ll be hearing the same message through each of them
-- in other words, what you see in your circumstances and what you hear through prayer and the church will line up with what God is telling you in the Bible
2. the second way God uses circumstances in our lives is to get our attention -- this is especially true for people who are not reading God’s word on a regular basis or who are avoiding God in their lives -- He will use circumstances -- people, places, things, events -- in our lives to get our attention and to clue us in that God is talking to us
-- I had a friend who was running from God as hard as she could -- caught up in drugs and other vices -- and God kept calling her and calling her and she kept putting her hands over her ears -- finally, she had a bad car accident that got her attention -- she survived without a scratch and decided it had to be a message from God -- she started to read the Bible -- she started to listen for His voice -- and she realized that God was using the circumstance of that car crash to correct her and get her back on path -- that He had greater plans for her than to burn out her life on drugs and alcohol -- today, she is a pastor who is making a difference in the lives of many people
-- now, that’s not to say that God only sends bad things our way to get our attention -- sometimes, He sends good things -- but He does use circumstances to let us know that He is talking -- we just have to be careful to not assume that the circumstances are the message alone
-- so, when all of a sudden your circumstances change -- whether for good or bad -- the first thing we should do is go to God and ask Him to show us His perspective on our circumstances -- what is He doing in our lives? -- Why has our situation suddenly changed?
-- Job wisely did not accept the counsel of his friends and their perspective on what they thought was going on to cause such bad things to happen to Job -- instead, he appealed to God and asked God what was going on
-- we should do the same -- ask God what is going on -- and then seek His voice in the Bible and in prayer and through the church to see where God is leading you
-- and, then, when we’re sure God is speaking to us -- when all four ways are starting to line up and what we are seeing in our circumstances agrees with what God is telling us in the Bible and in prayer and through the church -- we need to adjust our life to God and do what He is telling us to do
-- sometimes, God leads us to go off in new directions in our lives or in our careers or in our spiritual life
-- sometimes, God just wants us to correct things in our lives that are wrong or to get us back on track when we’ve strayed off His path -- sometimes, He uses circumstances to grow our faith or to develop our character
-- the key to correctly understanding the circumstances of your lives is to have a Godly perspective -- to focus on God and not on what you are going through
-- don’t let your circumstances or situations dictate what you think God can or can’t do in your life -- it’s easy for us to get wrapped up in our own little lives -- to think that if things are going good, then we must be doing all right with God -- or if things are going bad, that we must be doing bad with God
-- but, when you’re doing that -- when you’re going through life looking at your circumstances and situations like that -- you are actually self-focused -- your emphasis is on you and your happiness -- rather than on God and what His plans are
-- we have to always put God first -- we have to always seek His perspective and His understanding to make sense of our situations and circumstances -- otherwise, we will end up making wrong assumptions just like Job’s friends did or just like that woman on the plane
-- Job remained faithful and righteous in God’s eyes because he trusted God throughout all the circumstances of his life and because he looked for God’s perspective rather than man’s
-- that is the example we should follow, as we seek to hear and understand God in our own lives
-- so, as we close this series on hearing God’s voice in our lives, let me leave you with a promise from God on His plan for us -- Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
-- don’t fear what God is doing in your life, but trust Him and listen for His voice to lead you down the path that He has chosen for you
-- let’s pray
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Job 1:13-19
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
-- this morning we are finishing up our series on hearing God -- we started out by looking at hearing God through His Word -- then we looked at hearing God through prayer -- and then last week we looked at hearing God through the church
-- this morning, we are going to look at the last way God normally speaks to us -- our circumstances
-- as we said, these four ways are not equal and they are not mutually exclusive -- when God speaks to you, He does so primarily through the Bible -- then He confirms what He has told you in the Bible through prayer, the church, and circumstances
-- one thing to keep in mind is that God will never ever tell us to do something that contradicts the Bible -- He will never ever tell us to do something that goes against His Word
-- that’s why I pointed out last week that we have to be careful when we think we have heard something from God, but we are only hearing it from one source like the church or our circumstances
-- the problem here is that sometimes people get it wrong -- even if they mean well, people sometimes give bad advice -- and if what they are telling you does not line up with what you are reading in God’s word, it is not from God
-- a pastor friend of mine had a couple come to him a couple of years ago for advice -- they both went to his church and they both were married -- just not to each other -- and they came to him and said that God was telling them that they should divorce their spouses and then marry each other
-- that was what their friends were telling them -- that’s what people in the church were telling them -- but this obviously went against what the Bible says -- yes, there are biblical grounds for divorce -- yes, I believe that divorce may be justified in the cases of abuse -- but these are extreme cases, and the Bible tells us that God’s plan for the family is for husbands and wives to stay together -- in 1 Corinthians 7, He tells us that a wife must not separate from her husband and a husband should not divorce his wife
-- my friend told these people that what they were hearing was not from God -- and he wisely counseled this couple to break off their relationship and to go back to their spouses and repair their marriages
-- so, we have to be careful that what we think we are from hearing from God lines up with what the Bible says -- this is especially true for our topic today
II. The Problem with Circumstances
-- more people are led astray by their circumstances than any other thing -- and they think that if their circumstances are pointing them to a certain area, then it must be from God
-- we’ll all heard that saying -- we’ve probably all said that saying -- “If God closes one door, He opens another one” -- or, sometimes we hear it as, “If God closes a door, He opens a window”
-- and that may be true, but you can’t rely on circumstances alone to determine if the door that is closed was closed by God or if the window that was just opened was opened by God
-- I heard a story a few years ago about this woman who was having problems in her marriage -- she decided to take some time just for herself and she went out west to the mountains -- she rented a little cabin out in the middle of nowhere and was going to spend the time reading and thinking and trying to figure out what to do in her marriage
-- well, as luck would have it, while she was there she happened to meet this guy who was everything her husband wasn’t -- and he swept her off her feet -- and she ended up having an adulterous affair
-- when it came time to go back home, she was torn and didn’t know what to do -- she got on the plane and started really missing the man back in the cabin -- so, she said, “God, give me a sign -- if I am not supposed to go back to my husband but am supposed to be with this other man -- close that door and open another one”
-- all of a sudden, the plane hit a pocket of turbulence -- the flight attendant came on the intercom and said, “The pilot has turned on the ‘Fasten Seat Belt’ sign -- everyone needs to return to the cabin and buckle their seat belts”
-- well, this woman heard that message -- “Return to the cabin” -- and she took that as a sign from God -- as soon as the plane landed, she booked a flight back to the cabin and the man she had had an affair with and divorced her husband
-- looking at circumstances alone led her to do something that clearly was not God’s will and that was contrary to God’s message in His Bible
-- one of the big problems with circumstances is that we try to make them fit what we want to do -- we use them to justify our behavior and our actions -- rather than trying to find out what God is saying to us through them
III. Scripture Lesson (Job 1:13-19)
-- here in this passage in Job, we see the problem that can arise if we try to ascertain the will of God from our circumstances alone
-- this book -- the Book of Job -- is the oldest book in the Bible -- most scholars agree that Job was probably a contemporary of Abraham -- they lived in the same time and same area and there are indications in the Book of Genesis that they may have known each other and may have actually been related
-- in verse 1 of this chapter we learn that Job was a very Godly man -- the Bible tells us that he was blameless and upright -- he feared God and shunned evil -- Job was a good guy trying to live his life for God when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, disaster struck
-- look back at verse 13
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
-- one minute, Job is going through life -- following God -- doing what’s right -- not harming his neighbor or anyone else -- he’s an upright, outstanding citizen in his community -- a leader who is well-respected
-- and, then, Job has a bad day -- a really, really bad day -- it starts out when a servant rushes up and tells him that raiders have come and stolen his oxen and his donkeys and killed all of his servants
-- and then, while he’s still talking, another servant comes up and tells him that all of Job’s sheep and all of his shepherds have been killed -- and while Job is hearing this news, yet another servant comes up and says that a different band of raiders has swept down and stolen all of his camels
-- and then the worst of all -- he gets news that all of his sons and daughters have been killed in an accident
-- keep in mind -- this has happened in the span of moments -- Job has gotten all of this bad news within just minutes of each other -- can you imagine the shock that he is feeling -- the pain that he is suffering
-- here is a Godly man -- trying to do his best and not cheat anyone or do anyone any harm -- and all of a sudden, he has lost his wealth and his family forever
-- but, things just get worse -- over in Job Chapter 2 we read that Job loses his health -- he gets afflicted with painful sores that cover his whole body from the soles of his feet all the way to the top of his head
-- so, here’s the question -- if you were looking only at Job’s circumstances, what conclusion would you come to about what is going on in his life?
-- if this happened in your life, what would you think? -- what would you think God was trying to tell you?
-- well, Job has three friends who come by who have all the answers -- they look at what has happened to Job and they tell him they know exactly what is going on -- “You have sin in your life -- you have done things that are wrong and God is punishing you for them -- repent of your sins and turn back to God and maybe He will quit punishing you”
-- we kind of think that way, too, don’t we? -- we may not say this exactly that way, but that’s kind of what we believe? -- “if you do good things, good things will happen to you -- if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you” -- Christian Karma
-- Job’s friends were convinced -- the only reason bad things like this happened to a person was because they were bad and had done bad things themselves
-- but that doesn’t jibe with what we know about Job -- the Bible tells us that he was holy and blameless -- he feared God and shunned evil -- Job wasn’t bad -- he didn’t do bad things -- but bad things happened anyway -- so, what’s going on?
-- Job’s story continues for 42 chapters, and eventually, God Himself comes and speaks truth into the situation and lets Job and his friends know that everything that has happened to Job -- all the bad things that have come his way -- were not Job’s fault
-- they were not the result of sin in Job’s life -- there not because Job was bad or because he had done bad things -- these circumstances were a plan of Satan to get Job to turn away from God
-- but here at the start of this book -- at the start of this story -- Job didn’t know that -- he just knew that his circumstances were bad -- and if he had just looked at them alone and not sought God’s word on the situation, Job might have gotten the wrong idea and gone off and done something that would not have been what God would have wanted
IV. God’s Perspective
-- so, how can we use our circumstances to help us know what God wants us to do? -- or, in another way, how do we look at our circumstances from a Godly and Biblical perspective rather than a worldly perspective?
-- to start with, we need to keep in mind the two ways that God uses circumstances to speak to us
1. first, He uses circumstances to confirm what He has previously told us in His Word -- as we’ve talked about before, God primarily speaks to us through the Bible -- but then He confirms this in other ways -- and as we seek to know and understand what He is telling us, then we will see all four ways -- the Bible, Prayer, Church, and Circumstances -- start to line up and we’ll be hearing the same message through each of them
-- in other words, what you see in your circumstances and what you hear through prayer and the church will line up with what God is telling you in the Bible
2. the second way God uses circumstances in our lives is to get our attention -- this is especially true for people who are not reading God’s word on a regular basis or who are avoiding God in their lives -- He will use circumstances -- people, places, things, events -- in our lives to get our attention and to clue us in that God is talking to us
-- I had a friend who was running from God as hard as she could -- caught up in drugs and other vices -- and God kept calling her and calling her and she kept putting her hands over her ears -- finally, she had a bad car accident that got her attention -- she survived without a scratch and decided it had to be a message from God -- she started to read the Bible -- she started to listen for His voice -- and she realized that God was using the circumstance of that car crash to correct her and get her back on path -- that He had greater plans for her than to burn out her life on drugs and alcohol -- today, she is a pastor who is making a difference in the lives of many people
-- now, that’s not to say that God only sends bad things our way to get our attention -- sometimes, He sends good things -- but He does use circumstances to let us know that He is talking -- we just have to be careful to not assume that the circumstances are the message alone
-- so, when all of a sudden your circumstances change -- whether for good or bad -- the first thing we should do is go to God and ask Him to show us His perspective on our circumstances -- what is He doing in our lives? -- Why has our situation suddenly changed?
-- Job wisely did not accept the counsel of his friends and their perspective on what they thought was going on to cause such bad things to happen to Job -- instead, he appealed to God and asked God what was going on
-- we should do the same -- ask God what is going on -- and then seek His voice in the Bible and in prayer and through the church to see where God is leading you
-- and, then, when we’re sure God is speaking to us -- when all four ways are starting to line up and what we are seeing in our circumstances agrees with what God is telling us in the Bible and in prayer and through the church -- we need to adjust our life to God and do what He is telling us to do
-- sometimes, God leads us to go off in new directions in our lives or in our careers or in our spiritual life
-- sometimes, God just wants us to correct things in our lives that are wrong or to get us back on track when we’ve strayed off His path -- sometimes, He uses circumstances to grow our faith or to develop our character
-- the key to correctly understanding the circumstances of your lives is to have a Godly perspective -- to focus on God and not on what you are going through
-- don’t let your circumstances or situations dictate what you think God can or can’t do in your life -- it’s easy for us to get wrapped up in our own little lives -- to think that if things are going good, then we must be doing all right with God -- or if things are going bad, that we must be doing bad with God
-- but, when you’re doing that -- when you’re going through life looking at your circumstances and situations like that -- you are actually self-focused -- your emphasis is on you and your happiness -- rather than on God and what His plans are
-- we have to always put God first -- we have to always seek His perspective and His understanding to make sense of our situations and circumstances -- otherwise, we will end up making wrong assumptions just like Job’s friends did or just like that woman on the plane
-- Job remained faithful and righteous in God’s eyes because he trusted God throughout all the circumstances of his life and because he looked for God’s perspective rather than man’s
-- that is the example we should follow, as we seek to hear and understand God in our own lives
-- so, as we close this series on hearing God’s voice in our lives, let me leave you with a promise from God on His plan for us -- Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
-- don’t fear what God is doing in your life, but trust Him and listen for His voice to lead you down the path that He has chosen for you
-- let’s pray
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