God’s Haven For The Hapless (Father's Day 2017).

GOD’S HAVEN FOR THE HAPLESS

Text: Matthew 9:35- 38, 10:1- 8

Lou Holtz once said Win is an acronym for “What’s important now? …. The WIN strategy is applicable in times of prosperity as it is during a depression. ” (Lou Holtz. Wins, Losses and Lessons. New York: William Morrow (an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers), 2006, p. 7). With that in mind I would like to point out that we never quit being important to our heavenly Father! God sent His only begotten Son (John 3:16) to illustrate just how important we are to God as is mentioned in numerous places in the New Testament (John 3:34; John 14:24; 17:6).

Often times we can find stories where there was neglect and the price that others paid for neglect. Matthew 9:35 – 38 gives us a picture of a neglected people and the price of the neglect. It has been said that the words of Jesus in this context were an insult to religious leaders because of their fruitlessness---their negligence. Apparently, the religious leaders did not care enough to consider those in the margins! It was not meant for the religious leaders to play God and determine who was fit for God’s kingdom since they were all sinners in need of saving; sheep in need of a shepherd!

We are all important to God from the lost, the least to the last! Everybody is important to God now!

1) Faith of our fathers: Our God is our Heavenly Father who seeks to carry on his ministry through our parents whom He has willed to guide us in the way that we should go so that we will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).

2) Children of our fathers: This thought echoes Deuteronomy 6:6- 20 the idea of remembering who we are and whose we are as God’s children.

Everywhere we go we discover someone’s brokenness from broken dreams, broken hearts or broken homes. Some rebel; some strive; some give up; some hope for better things because they are all broken. The sad thing is that some never seem to heal.

BROKENNESS

Have you ever felt broken and alone in your brokenness? Jesus understands.

1) Isolation?: It seems that Jesus felt alone when He took our sins to the cross with Him as He cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46).

2) Understanding: Hebrews 4:15 tells us “Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! (CEV) .

3) The lost sheep: Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

How are your handling your brokenness? Do you go it alone? Do you try to solve your brokenness apart from Jesus? What did Jesus say about trying to do things apart from Him? Jesus reminds us that “the words that He gave us to hear came from God our Heavenly Father who sent Him” ( John 14:24 paraphrased).

God, our Heavenly Father wants to heal all brokenness! God Wants us to have a WIN strategy! We are always important to God now and always! God does not and will not neglect us!

Psalm 103:14 “For he knows our frame; [“knows our name” John 10:3] he remembers that we are dust” (ESV). We are never separated from God’s love (Romans 8:35). Paul once prayed that we might have the power to grasp God’s love---its width and length, height and depth together with all believers (Ephesians 3:19 ESV paraphrased). That’s a lot of love to grasp!

The story is told of a Montanna sheepherder who wrote a strange request to a Chicago radio station. He lived a lonely life with his dog, four thousand sheep, a battery radio, and an old violin. He loved the symphony orchestra and wished he could play along with the parts that he knew. Unfortunately, his violin was out of tune. He asked, “Sometime before you start the next program, would you have the orchestra play an A for me?” Just before the next Chicago Symphony broadcast, thousands of listeners heard these words: “The orchestra will now play an A for the sheepherder in Montana”. (Paul Lee Tan. Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations. Hong Kong: Nordica Internationla, Ltd. [under license from Bible Communications, Inc. Dallas,Texas], Thirteenth Printing, 1996, pp. 1233- 1234). God does the same kind of thing for us because He loves us with a love that is far beyond our comprehension but never beyond His grasp.

REDEMPTION

Have you ever longed for redemption?

1) Help for the helpless: The redeemed always have a redeemer. The drowning man needs a lifeguard to be his redeemer. The restless sinner needs the help of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.