I. Introduction
-- this morning we are going to open
with one verse -- John 11:35
John
11:35 New International Version (NIV)
35
Jesus wept.
-- I imagine everyone listening this
morning has heard that verse before and knows it -- some may just know it as
the shortest verse in the Bible -- just two words -- “Jesus wept”
-- others may know it in context --
they may hear it and remember that this verse appears in the story of Jesus
raising Lazarus from the dead
-- Jesus’ friend Lazarus -- the
brother of Martha and Mary -- was sick -- so they sent word to Him, hoping that
He would come and heal their brother, just as He had healed so many others in
their presence
-- but Jesus delayed His return and
Lazarus died -- when Jesus arrived in Bethany, He found that Lazarus had
already been in the grave for four days -- Martha went out to meet Him,
questioning through her tears why Jesus had not come -- in verse 21 she says,
“If you had been here, my brother would not have died” -- her pain and grief
are evident and deeply felt, although she still believes in Jesus as the
Messiah, trusting that all will be made well in the end
-- Mary, the younger sister, went
out to see Jesus and repeated the same words of pain that Martha had said, “If you
had been here, my brother would not have died” -- in response, we read that
Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled and asked where Lazarus had been
laid -- it is when they told Jesus to come and see the place where Lazarus lay
that we find verse 35 -- “Jesus wept”
-- of course, the story doesn’t end
there -- Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb and told the Jews to
take away the stone -- after some argument, they did -- not understanding why
Jesus asked for them to do so -- but, after praying out loud to the Father,
Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth” -- and the dead man
came out -- alive once more
-- this morning, we are continuing
in our sermon series on experiencing God -- looking at the many ways God
reaches out to us and touches us in our daily lives -- so far, we have looked
at See -- when God shows us His presence or leads us to see others in need --
Hear -- when God speaks to us even through the noise of the world -- and Touch
-- when God places His Hand on us or leads us to help someone physically by
touching their lives in a special way
-- this morning, we are looking at
Feel -- at how God moves our heart through our emotions -- which leads us back
to John 11:35, “Jesus wept”
-- the shortest verse in the Bible
-- just two words -- easily memorized -- but not so easily understood -- for
those two words mean so much -- there is so much wrapped up in them -- there is
so much they tell us -- they speak of who Jesus was -- of who Jesus is -- and
about why He was sent to us in the first place -- of what His coming was meant
to show us about who we are
II. The Emotions of Christ
-- on the altar in a lot of our
churches, there are two candles that are kept burning -- have you ever wondered
why? -- why two? -- why not just one? -- is it just for the symmetry? -- for
the feng shui? -- for the balance -- for the look?
-- no, the two candles are placed there
deliberately -- they symbolize the two natures of Jesus as the light of the
world -- fully God and fully man
-- one candle represents His divine
nature -- His deity -- that He is God -- the other candle represents Jesus’
human nature -- the heart of the incarnation -- that He was one of us
-- and it is these two natures that
come together in the words, “Jesus wept” -- showing us the heart of God and the
heart of man, expressed with deep emotion and feeling
-- so, what are emotions? --
according to the dictionary, emotions are strong feelings that derive from your
circumstances, your mood, and your relationship with others -- they are part of
who you are -- they combine with your intellect, your personality, your soul,
and your spirit to make up the complete person
-- you can think of emotions as our
response to ourselves and the world around us -- scientists say that there are
five to eight basic emotions that all humans share -- Joy, Sadness, Fear,
Disgust, Anger, Trust, Surprise, and Anticipation -- but there can be many
more, depending on how you react and respond to the world around you
-- now, some in the church don’t
like to discuss emotions -- they don’t feel that emotions have a place within
religion because our emotions can be affected by external and internal stimuli
-- in other words, our emotions change based on how we’re feeling inside or
what is going on around us -- and because our emotions will sometimes cause us
to act in negative and unhealthy ways
-- for that reason, they argue,
emotions should be suppressed -- our faith and our responses should only be
based on the truth of God’s word -- on what is written in black and white --
you faith can’t be based on feelings, they say -- your faith can’t be based on
your emotions -- and, in that regard, they’re right -- but the answer shouldn’t
be to wall our emotions away from our faith and spirituality
-- as John 11:35 shows us, our God
is a God who has strong emotions and who has given those emotions to us -- the
Bible is full of examples of our God as an emotional God
-- Jesus wept at the
grave of Lazarus and He wept at the sight of Jerusalem
-- John 3:16 -- “for God so loved
the world that He sent His only Son…”
-- Matthew 9:36 -- “Jesus had compassion
on the crowds…”
-- Genesis 6:6 -- “The Lord was grieved
that He had made man…”
-- Isaiah 62:5 -- “…so will your God
rejoice over you”
-- we read of God’s love and joy --
of His anger and wrath -- of His compassion and grief -- of sadness and
happiness and jealousy
-- our God is a God of emotions --
and this tells us that the emotions that we feel in our lives are God-given --
because we were made in His image, we experience emotions and deep feelings in
our lives, just as He does
-- so, emotions should not be
suppressed because they are a part of who we are -- of who God made us to be
-- but I will agree that our
emotions should be approached with caution -- because we live in a fallen world
influenced by our enemy -- and because we are afflicted with self -- with a
sin-nature -- we find that our emotions can be good or they can be bad -- they
can be right or wrong
-- our goal is to recognize and live
out true emotions in our lives as God leads us -- not suppressing them -- not
pushing them away like the stoics -- but learning to live and to relate to God
and others through our emotions and our passions that God gave us -- there’s nothing
wrong with being emotional, provided our emotions are proper and our responses
to those emotions God-led
III. Why Did God Give us Emotions?
-- so, why did God give us emotions?
-- what is the purpose for our feelings?
-- God moves us through our emotions
-- our emotions move our hearts to respond to others and to things going on in
the world -- in other words, emotions lead to action
-- speaking of John 11:35, Pope Leo
the Great said, "In His humanity Jesus wept for Lazarus; in His divinity
he raised him from the dead." -- in other words, Jesus’ emotion -- His
sadness at the death of Lazarus -- led Him to act and to raise Lazarus from the
dead
-- emotions can be the catalyst God
uses to inspire us to move and do something for Him
-- let me give you an example of
what I’m talking about
-- right now, many in our country
are focused on the Ahmaud Arbery shooting that occurred in Brunswick a few
months back -- as I’m sure you know by now, Arbery, a young African-American
man, was jogging through a subdivision in Brunswick when he was confronted by
two residents who believed he was a burglar -- the confrontation went bad -- we
don’t know exactly what happened -- even with the video that has been making
its rounds, it’s just not clear -- but the fact is that Arbery was shot and
killed at close range by the two men
-- this act has triggered an
emotional response that is sweeping across the nation -- and how you feel about
the shooting depends on who you are -- your race -- your age -- where you live
-- your faith -- what you believe about God
-- many in the country are angry --
hurt -- scared -- anxious -- worried -- defiant
-- but here’s the questions we
should be asking -- how does God feel about this act? -- how does God want us
to feel about this act? -- what does God want us to do in response?
-- this is the point where we need
to turn to His word
-- emotions are like the needle on a
compass -- like the voice on our GPS saying, “turn here” -- the way we are
feeling about the Arbery case can point us in the direction God wants us to go,
but we have to be careful that we are responding based on His word and not
reacting based solely on emotions
-- we can look back through history
and see many cases of where tragic accidents or events led to strong emotions
and resulted in changes for the better -- of where God used our emotions to
inspire us to action
-- but, on the other hand, there are
just as many cases where emotional reactions to situations resulted in ungodly
responses -- where emotions ran high and actions were taken that did not
reflect God’s word or God’s will
-- emotions are important -- they
were given by God to catch our attention -- to move our hearts -- to stir us to
action -- but we can’t rely solely on emotions, since our emotions can be
affected by self, the world, or even Satan
-- if we feel strongly about a
situation, it could be God’s prompting to begin to respond in that direction --
however, we must always confirm what God would have us do through His word,
prayer, and Godly counsel before we proceed
-- as Mark Manson wrote, “Emotions
are merely signposts” -- they point the way -- but we should never react
emotionally without first considering where our emotions may be leading -- our
emotions should lead to a calculated response based on God’s word and commands
-- our goal is to be Spirit-led, not
emotion-led -- so, how do we do that?
-- in 1 John 4:1, we read that we
should not believe every spirit, but to test the spirits to see whether they
are from God or not -- we should follow that same principle when it comes to
our emotions -- we need to test our emotions to see if they are coming from God
or are coming from self or the world
-- one way to do this is to consider
the acronym THINK:
-- T -- True -- is this emotion
true? -- is it how we usually feel in a situation like this? -- is it how God
would feel about this situation?
-- H -- Helpful -- is this emotion helping
or is it hurting the situation? -- is how I’m feeling leading me to make things
better?
-- I -- Inspiring -- does this
emotion inspire a Godly response?
-- N -- Necessary -- is this emotion
necessary? -- is it beneficial?
-- K -- Kind -- does this emotion
lead to kindness? -- does this emotion cause me to act as Jesus would act in
this situation?
IV. CLOSING
-- so, let’s bring this to a close
-- the take-home message for you today -- the thing I want you to know and to
get out of all of this -- is that there is nothing wrong with being emotional
-- our emotions -- our feelings -- are from God -- they are part of what it
means to be made in His image -- just as God is emotional -- just as God feels
and loves and hurts and grieves and weeps, so we are called to be emotional in
our lives
-- God uses our emotions to get our
attention -- to point us in the direction we should go -- to lead us and to
inspire us to move -- to act -- to minister in His name -- and to help make a
difference in the lives of those around us
-- we have to be careful to read our
emotions correctly -- to not take all emotions at face-value, but to test them
to make sure they are coming from God and not from self or from the world or
from Satan
-- but when our emotions line up
with God’s word -- when He points us to the path He would have us go and
confirms it through His word and through prayer and through His people -- then
lives are changed and hearts are transformed and the kingdom of God advances
-- I want to leave you with this one
example of someone who let their emotions dictate the path they chose, and how
that made all the difference
-- I am sure that everyone who is
listening has heard of Mother Teresa and her ministry in India to the poor and
the afflicted and the outcast in Calcutta -- but did you know that this was not
what drew her to India in the first place?
-- Mother Teresa was born in the
Kosovo region of the Ottoman Empire -- in what became Yugoslavia and is now
North Macedonia -- as a child, she became fascinated with missionaries and
dreamt of carrying God’s word to people in foreign lands -- her goal was to
teach and evangelize people and lead them to salvation in Jesus’ name
-- in 1937, Teresa became a teacher
in a convent in Calcutta, eventually becoming the head-mistress there -- for
almost ten years, she lived out her childhood dream to teach and tell others
about Jesus
-- but as she taught there in the
convent, she became increasingly disturbed about the poverty and the affliction
she was witnessing -- her heart began to break as she witnessed starving
children and handicapped adults begging in the street -- she grieved over their
condition -- she wept at their plight -- God began moving her through her
emotions
-- in 1946, Teresa experienced what
she described as “the call within her calling” -- she could not ignore what she
was feeling when she saw the poor begging in the street -- and, after praying
and seeking counsel through God’s word, she left the convent to live in the
streets with the poor and the orphans and the afflicted
-- eventually, she formed the
Missionaries of Charity that created a hospice, a hospital for lepers, an
orphanage, and other ministries to better the lives of the poor and afflicted
throughout India
-- when she died in 1997, the
Missionaries of Charity had grown to over 4,000 sisters and an associated
brotherhood of 300 members operating 610 missions in 123 countries
-- and all of this came about
because God moved Mother Teresa’s heart when she saw the poor children begging
in the street
-- there is nothing wrong with being
an emotional or passionate person -- for our emotions and our feelings come
from God Himself -- they reflect His heart and motivate and inspire us to do
great things
-- don’t feel bad about being
emotional -- don’t take it as a weakness that you are moved to great feelings
in life -- embrace your passions -- embrace your feelings -- see if God is
leading you to do great things like Mother Teresa -- let His passions be the
catalyst that inspire you to action -- that inspire you to move
-- let me close with this -- what is
God leading you to do today? -- where are your emotions -- your feelings --
your passions -- leading? -- how is God going to use your feelings to change
the world?
-- let us pray
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