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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click
here. Joseph
Slife, lay speaker Aug.
7, 2011 An
interesting poll came
out a couple of weeks
ago. It asked some of
those common questions
about whether people
approved or disapproved
of the job the
Republicans were doing
or the Democrats were
doing. But
this poll also tossed in
another question - a
rather unusual question
for a poll of this type.
"Do you approve of the
job God is
doing?" Now
that didn't mean that
rest of those over age
65 disapproved of God's
performance. The poll
showed that only a few
respondents actually
disapproved, but more
than half of the
respondents were over 65
said they just weren't
sure if God was doing a
good job or
not. I
guess that's not too
surprising. The older we
get, the more we have
endured, the more
struggles we have
faced. And,
frankly, the older we
are, the more times we
have not seen God do
what we expected. We
think we have figured
what God will do - or
what he ought to do - in
a particular situation,
and then it doesn't
happen, or doesn't
happen the way the
thought it ought to
happen. And
finally we reach the
point where we may not
actually disapprove of
the job God is doing,
but we're just not sure
any more. And
this is what I want to
talk with you about
today: Is God really
there? Does God really
care?
Or
as a pollster might put
it, "Do you approve or
disapprove of the job
God is
doing?" Let's
pray: First,
let me say the
pollster's question has
an assumption in it that
just isn't true.
It
is not for us to stand
in judgment of God. The
Bible is quite clear
about this. He stands in
judgment of us. He is
the creator, we are the
creatures. Toward
the end of the book of
Job, God asks Job:
"Where were you when I
laid the earth's
foundation?... [Were
you the one who]
endowed the heart with
wisdom or gave
understanding to the
mind?" And then God
says, "Would you condemn
me to justify
yourself?" So
please understand from
the get-go that I think
the pollster's question
is fundamentally
flawed. But
nonetheless, we do have
questions about what God
does and doesn't
do.
And
we're not the first ones
to have questions. I
have already mentioned
Job. He had many
questions. The
prophet Habakkuk is
another one who had
questions.
At
the beginning of the
book Habakkuk, the
prophet has already been
crying out to God for a
long time had been
crying out to God for a
long time, asking the
LORD to act, to
intervene, to do
something to rescue the
nation of Judah from
wickedness and
violence. And
to put it plainly,
Habakkuk is pretty upset
with God for not
acting. Here
is what the prophet says
in Habakkuk, chapter 1,
verse 2: "How long, O
LORD, must I call for
help, but you do not
listen?" Have
you ever been in that
place? Habakkuk is vexed
by the situation around
him. He's powerless to
do anything about it. So
he turns to the only one
who can help - and what?
Silence. "How long, O
LORD, must I call for
help, but you do not
listen?" If
God hasn't always acted
or answered when you
wanted Him to and the
way you wanted him to,
you're not alone:
Habakkuk the prophet
knows the feeling. So
does Job. So
does Joseph who was
thrown into Pharaoh's
prison and was there for
a long time. So does
David who was betrayed
by his own son, Absalom.
So do Mary and Joseph,
who had to flee
desperately to Egypt to
escape the murderous
wrath of King
Herod. And
think about Paul in 2
Timothy 4, writing to
his son in the faith,
Timothy. He says —
and you can sense the
emotion is this —
"Do your best to come to
me quickly, for Demas,
because he loved this
world, has deserted me
and has gone to
Thessalonica." Same
chapter at verse 14:
"Alexander the
metalworker did me a
great deal of
harm." And
verse 16: "At my first
defense, no one came to
my support, but everyone
deserted me." This
is the Apostle Paul,
God's chosen instrument
to take the gospel to
the Gentiles, the key
figure of the early
church. A co-worker in
the ministry deserted
him. An opponent
undermined his ministry.
No one was there to help
him when he was called
into court. Pain,
perplexity, frustration,
fatigue. A tough
journey. In
another place — 2
Corinthians 5 at verse 2
— Paul says this:
"We groan... we groan
and are
burdened." If
a pollster had
approached any of these
people, Job, Habakkuk,
Joseph, David, Mary and
Joseph, Paul, and asked
— in the middle of
their particular trials
— "Do you approve
of the job God is
doing?" I wonder how
they would have
responded. Remember,
these were all human
beings. They were all
people who went though
emotional ups and downs,
who had valley
experiences as well as
mountaintops. And I am
sure they everyone one
of them, at some time or
other, wondered, "Is God
really there? Does God
really care?
I
thought I was sure, but
now I'm not so
sure." Now,
before you leave here
today depressed, saying
that was the one downer
of a sermon, I want to
us to begin to engage
another reality. Yeah,
life is tough sometimes.
It can be painful.
Confusing.
Tiring. But
listen to this. This
absolutely remarkable.
Paul, the one who talked
about groaning and being
burdened in 2nd
Corinthians 5, just a
few verses later, he
says this: "We are
always confident." Now
that's a peculiar mix.
In the midst of all this
groaning, all this
burden, Paul says, "We
are always
confident." And
reason is, he knows God
is at work to bring
about our ultimate good.
This is the other
reality. Life
is not just about a hard
journey. It's about a
journey to a place that
Jesus is preparing for
us.
And
knowing that God is
working out this plan,
Paul says "We are always
confident." And then he
says, "We walk by faith,
not by
sight." And
you know what? Paul is
actually echoing a verse
in Habakkuk, chapter 2.
Chapter 2, verse 4. God
is speaking and He says,
"The righteous will live
by his
faith." Faith
not in our expectation
about how things ought
to work out, but
faith in the One who
is perfect in wisdom,
power, and
love.
Faith
in Him who can be
trusted, even when life
seems to make no sense
and everything seems to
be falling
apart. This
week, I've been reading
1st Peter. And I was
struck by what I found
there. If you have your
Bible, turn with me to
1st Peter chapter
1. I'll
start at verse
3: In
this you greatly
rejoice, though now
for a little while
you may have had to
suffer grief in all
kinds of trials.
These have come so
that your faith
— of greater
worth than gold,
which perishes even
though refined by
fire — may be
proved genuine and
may result in praise,
glory and honor when
Jesus Christ is
revealed. Though
you have not seen
him, you love him;
and even though you
do not see him now,
you believe in him
and are filled with
an inexpressible and
glorious joy, for you
are receiving the
goal of your faith,
the salvation of your
souls. I
don't know how many of
your remember being
born. It's rather
difficult to go that far
back. But "reality" for
a baby in the womb
— and I know that
babies in the womb don't
process it quite this
way — but reality
for them is being in a
warm pool of water in
the dark. Then
suddenly, a whole new
reality begins when that
child is born. A new
reality never before
experienced. And we're
like that in the
spiritual. Apart from
Christ, all we know is
one level of existence
— a largely
materialistic existence,
informed by our five
senses. And
then God opens our eyes
through Jesus Christ to
a reality that beyond
the reality we can see,
hear, taste, touch, or
smell. We are given new
birth into a living
hope. Before we were
without hope. Before it
was: "Life is tough. Too
bad." But
now, life is still
tough, but we have a
living hope. We know
that we are headed
toward an inheritance
that can never perish,
spoil or fade. We know
that no matter what
things may look like at
any given moment, or any
given year, or even any
give decade, or any
given lifetime, God is
for us. No matter what
trials may come, we are
receiving — note
that in the text —
we are receiving
the goal of our faith,
the salvation of our
souls. Verse
10: It
was revealed to them
that they were not
serving themselves
but you, when they
spoke of the things
that have now been
told you by those who
have preached the
gospel to you by the
Holy Spirit sent from
heaven. Even angels
long to look into
these
things. In
a sense, we make the
prophets of old —
such as Habakkuk —
jealous. They spoke of
the grace that was to
come in Jesus Christ,
but they did not have
the opportunity to live
in that grace.
Apparently, even the
angels, who serve in the
presence of God, don't
know as much about the
grace of God as we can
know. And
now, verses 13 thorough
16: Peter
is telling us that as
human beings, we are
going to have trials.
There will be suffering.
There will be
temptation. That is what
it is like to live in a
world that is infected
by sin. But
there is a greater
reality — a reality
on which we can set our
hope fully. Peter
says that the day will
come when Jesus Christ
is revealed, and in that
day, we will be the
recipients of God's
grace to a greater
degree than we have ever
known. Peter
is not explicit here
about just what will
happen in that day, but
he tells us more in 2nd
Peter 3, beginning at
verse 8: But
the day of the Lord
will come like a
thief. The heavens
will disappear with a
roar; the elements
will be destroyed by
fire, and the earth
and everything in it
will be laid
bare. Since
everything will be
destroyed in this
way, what kind of
people ought you to
be? You ought to live
holy and godly lives
as you look forward
to the day of God and
speed its coming.
That day will bring
about the destruction
of the heavens by
fire, and the
elements will melt in
the heat. But
in keeping with his
promise we are
looking forward to a
new heaven and a new
earth, the home of
righteousness. We
all wonder sometimes why
God doesn't seem to
answer — or doesn't
answer in the way we
want Him to. In our
darkest moments, we
wonder if He is really
there, if he really
cares. We want to
"approve" of the job God
is doing, but at times,
we're just not
sure. Peter
suggests here that God's
slowness — or what
appears to by slowness
to us — has a
purpose. And that
purpose is that more
people will repent and
turn to Him. I
don't know how all those
things work together.
Sometimes I want to say,
"Lord, can't you fix my
problem and save the
world too?" But
listen to what Jesus
said in John 16:33 -
I'll read this to you
from Amplified Bible,
which tries to bring out
the force of the
original Greek text.
Here's what Jesus
said: For
I have overcome the
world. [I have
deprived it of power
to harm you and have
conquered it for
you.] A
week or so ago, I was
talking with a man who
had to sell his house at
loss - after having it
on the market for a long
time. He told me he lost
$100,000 on it.
But
then he said this: "I
have no complaints. God
has taken care of
me." That
matter didn't turn out
the way he wanted. God
didn't answer quickly
when he prayed. He took
a big loss. Did the
world harm him? In the
natural, we'd say, "Yes,
he lost
$100,000." But
with the eyes of faith,
he is able to see a
different reality. He is
able to be of good
cheer. He is able to be
confident, walking by
faith and not by site,
trusting in God's grace
for today and tomorrow
and for all the
tomorrows yet to come
until Jesus
returns. This
journey that you and I
are on is often not
easy. But God has a
destination for us. And
somehow, someway —
though we may not see it
now, though God's answer
may be slow in coming as
we perceive slowness,
and when it comes it may
seem to be exactly the
wrong thing —
somehow, someway God is
committed to getting us
to this end of this
journey, and then we
will arrive at the place
where there is no more
death or sorrow or
crying or pain, for the
old order of things will
have passed away and he
will make everything
new. The
pollster wanted to know:
"Is God doing a good
job?" I am here today to
declare by faith to that
question is a resounding
"Yes!" I may not
always understand what
He is doing, I may not
always understand why He
doesn't do what I would
like Him to
do. But
I know this: while we
were yet sinners, the
Father sent His own Son
to die for us. I know
that He who knew no sin
became sin for us so
that we might be made
good with the very
goodness of God. I know
that Kingdom is
advancing forcefully we
are receiving the
salvation of our souls.
And I know that can be
confident of that He who
began a good work in us
will carry it on to
completion until the day
of Christ
Jesus. There
are times for each of us
when we just aren't
sure. Is God there? Does
God care? As
best we know, the
Apostle Paul was put to
death for proclaiming
the gospel. So were 11
of the 12
disciples. This
journey of faith is not
all sweetness and light
— and it has never
been so for any
person. But the one who
called you and me is
"faithful and true." The
psalmist said, "Weeping
may endure for the
night, but joy cometh in
the morning." Jesus
told us what we all
know: "In the world you
have tribulation and
trials and distress and
frustration." But
then he declared the
other reality: "Be of
good cheer [take
courage; be confident,
certain, undaunted]!
For I have overcome the
world. [I have
deprived it of power to
harm you and have
conquered it for
you.]" I
offer you this good news
as reminder of God's
faithfulness. If God is
for you, who can be
against you? Thanks to
be God through Jesus
Christ our
Lord! |
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