LIFE’S HEALING CHOICES
“No pain, no gain”
Matthew 5:4
If you have ever been to the gym or read anything about getting physically fit then you have probably heard this statement before:
NO PAIN, NO GAIN
It’s a simple statement that tells us this—before you will experience the benefits of exercises you have to first experience some pain. In order to get physically fit there is a level of pain you must go through. So at the beginning of the New Year many times we realize we have had too many desserts in December so we decide that in January we’re going to get in the gym. So we join; we have great intentions and then after a few weeks we stop going. There is a simple reason why that happens. It’s called pain. Our muscles get sore. We hurt. It’s not fun anymore. And whether we will admit it or not we make a decision in the back of our mind that it’s just not worth it.
Last week we started a new series of messages titled God’s healing Choices. There are 8 healing choices all of us must make in order to experience God’s healing power. The first choice is this: I call it the Reality choice. I must realize I am not God. I must admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable. Today we move to the 2nd choice. Choice #2. This is the hope choice. I must earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him and that he has the power to help me recover. Jesus put it this way: Happy are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
Every one of us has areas in our lives that are broken. Things that bring us deep grief and deep pain. This is a truth all of us need to learn. Grief is God’s pathway to comfort. Pain is God’s cure for denial. Again, happy are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Now there is a promise right out of the OT that speaks to us and offers us a powerful message when we are hurting. This is it. “To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise, instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.”
Pain is God’s way of letting us know that something is seriously wrong that requires our attention. I would suspect that most of us have fire alarms in our hoses. And of course they are there for a purpose. Pain is a lot like a fire alarm. When an alarm goes off in your house I suppose you could say that you have several options.
1. Choose to ignore it. Just turn the television up louder. Then you can’t hear it anymore.
2. Take the battery out. Unplug it. Like those lights that come on in the dashboard of your car. Check engine. Engine is hot. Oil change needed. Just unplug them.
3. Locate the source of your trouble. Find out where the smoke is coming from your house. Check to see if there is water in your radiator. In other words address the problem directly.
I recommend #3. Because if you never address the source of the problem, it will never go away. I know that’s obvious but you need to let that sink in. Here’s the deal. You can unplug that warning light and continue to drive that car. You can pull the battery out of your fire alarm and stay in your house and you can deny the emotional pain you are experiencing, but you can only do it for so long. Because where there’s smoke there is fire and you can end up losing your life. Yes, it is that serious.
Let me ask you, how high is your tolerance for pain? Some say Oh it’s very high. Others say no I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to pain. It really doesn’t matter how high your tolerance is for emotional pain from your pasty—if you continue to block it out and live in denial over it, it will eventually surface.
Jesus said in this world you will have trials. We will have them but He never said to ignore them. There are several things we must do when it comes to trials. (1) Expect them. It’s not just a possibility. It’s a certainty. (2) Since you know they are coming be prepared. Ask God to give you strength. (3) Practice patience when they come. (4) Be prepared to learn something from them. When difficulties come our way, God is preparing us for something better. And these trials don’t typically work themselves out overnight.
Now here is the problem for most of us. Most people never choose to move toward healing until there is no other option. That’s why emergency rooms exist. We ignore pain until we cannot bear it any longer then we do something. We want to patch things up ourselves, we keep going to the self-help aisle at the bookstore, keep pushing the pain down and we never stop and actually deal with what the root of the problem is. Denial is an OK place to visit but it’s a terrible place to live.
In fact I believe that God places what I would call 3 denial busters in our path to our attention. These 3 things often force us to move into recovery.
1. Crisis. God will use the pain of an unexpected crisis in your life to completely shatter your denial.
• You continue to abuse a certain substance and you’re going to become physically sick.
• You continue to function as a workaholic and stress is going to bring you down.
Listen, in case you don’t know it—you’re not superman---you’re not wonder woman.
2. Confrontation. Often God will use the people who love you the most-the ones who care enough to say it-man, you’re blowing it. You’re about to lose your health. You’re about to lose your family.
3. Catastrophe. Sometimes the bottom just falls out. Physically, emotionally, financially—in relationships and God often will allow us to feel the full impact of the poor choices we have made.
Choice #1 says I admit it. I am powerless.
Choice #2 says there is a power greater than me and that gives me real Hope.
Look at choice #2. We must earnestly believe that God exists, that we matter to Him and that he has the power to help me recover. Let’s look at this closer. I see 3 truths in this statement.
THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD
1. God is alive. God’s not dead. The Bible makes it clear that everything in lifer hinges on whether or not we believe in God. Anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Now most people actually do believe that there is a God. And I’ll tell you why. It takes a lot more faith NOT to believe in a creator than it does to believe in one. I cannot fathom that this world as we know it just “happened.” That it all fell together by itself. If you take a watch; in fact let’s do that; take it completely apart, put all the pieces in a paper bag, shake it up and then dump it out here on the table what are the odds that when you dump it all out that it’s going to come together and tell you what time it is. And guess what? This world is a whole lot more complex than a watch.
Where there is an effect there has to be a cause.
Where there is a design there has to be a designer.
Where there is a creation there must be a creator.
God’s not dead. He’s alive.
2. You matter to Him. The reason so many of us don’t realize how much we matter to God is simple. We don’t really know what God is like. So we make up our own ideas about what He is like. But what actually matters is the truth. John tells us God is love. God is light. God is spirit. People want to say well God as I understand Him is this or that. But the problem is they really don’t understand Him. Now this is a difference in a program like AA and Celebrate Recovery. I believe that AA is a good program that has helped thousands of people through the years. But in AA you cannot identify God by talking about Jesus Christ. Instead you refer to your higher power which can be just about anything. Your higher power can be a doorknob. Many people do not really understand who God is.
Two little boys, they were brothers attended a Christian school and they had been continually getting into trouble and whenever anything went wrong or anything was missing they were always blamed. So they wound up in the principal’s office. The principal knew what they really needed was a closer relationship with God so he brought the first little boy in and set him down. He said “I want to ask you a question, son.” “Where is God?” The little boy didn’t know how to answer so he just sat there in silence. The principal asked him 3-4 times. Louder each time. Where is God? Still no answer. So the principal told him he wanted him to think about that question and they would talk again. So he sent him out of his office. The little boy ran all the way home, flew through the door, ran to their bedroom and hid in the closet. His brother saw how afraid he was and said what’s wrong? Was there a problem? What’s going on? The first by said I don’t know but apparently God is missing and they think we have Him.
Sometimes our misconceptions about God confuse our picture of Him. Young people are told in SS that God like their father. That can be good or that can be not so good. If their father was abusive then they think God may be abusive. If they had reason to fear their parents, then they may fear God. Until we begin to understand the true character of God, we can’t completely trust him. And we have to learn to trust to be able to deal with our hurts, habits and hang-ups.
God knows about all of those things in our lives. He knows the good and the bad. Too often when we are going through a painful time, we say things like you know, “nobody knows the pain I’m going through right now.” God knows. We think “nobody knows how bad m depression is right now.” But God knows. Nobody knows how much I am struggling to beat this habit. God knows. Nothing escapes the eyes of God. King David had plenty of difficulty in his life. Listen to what he said about God. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Ever felt like that? Job said of God, “You keep close watch on all my paths.” He says every good choice we make and He sees every bad choice we make, unfortunately. The psalmist said, ”Lord you know how foolish I am.” God is not shocked by your sin. When we confess it He is not surprised. He’s not like, my, I had no idea. He made us, He knows how e were formed, he knows our every thought and He still loves us. God is alive. You matter to God.
3. God has the power to change you AND your situation. Sometimes God changes you; sometimes He changes your situation. Sometimes he changes both. Sometimes he calms the storm. Sometimes he calms you and leaves you in the storm. The apostle Paul prayed for our understanding when he said, “I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead.” Now if God can raise Jesus from the dead, if Jesus can raise Lazarus from the dead, he can certainly change a dead relationship. If He can raise a man from the dead He can certainly help you break an addiction. God has the power to help us change ourselves and to change our situation. We can’t do it but the Bible say that what is impossible with men is impossible with God. Things might look hopeless for you right now but I assure they are not when God is involved.
There is an interesting thing I have noticed about al electrical appliances. They work much better when they are plugged in. Amazing. Toasters, vacuum cleaners, coffemakers. And it applies to us as well. If you are going to deal with the pain that is in your life you have to plugin to God’s power. You say I’m a believer. That’s great but it’s not enough. You have to take a step of faith. You can’t stay in the boat.
God has given us a verse that tells us 3 things we can receive that we need. When we plug into this promise from God it’s like a triple power surge. “the spirit that God gives us …fills us with power, love and self-control.”
1. Power. We need the power to break habits. If we could do it on our own we would have already. We need power to break free from the past. We need God’s power.
2. We need love. You see too many of us have a fear of getting hurt by the people we are closest to. So we hold back. Because we are afraid we will get hurt. It’s a fear that many of us need to let go of.
3. Self-control. We desperately need self-control but here’s the thing. We can’t have self-control if Christ is not in control of us. When you and I stop trying to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps we find that Christ will actually stand us up on our feet.
John Baker started CR 18 years ago. The program started in his church and they are now reaching hundreds of people every week. John gave this reason for starting CR. John had an addiction problem with alcohol. And he said he would go to church and no one wanted him to talk about his alcohol problem. People didn’t want to hear about it. So he went to AA and nobody wanted him to talk about Jesus. So he thought what if there was a place where you could do both. And Celebrate Recovery was started. In our community and in our church we have a wonderful opportunity to reach people who are struggling with an addiction of any kind and are in need of recovery. And there are thousands of people like this across the area. You may be one of them or you may know someone who can benefit. Plan to attend. Invite. Encourage. You may be the person who will make a world of difference in someone’s life for better. Years ago I read the story of a young boy who was in church and the Bible teacher asked if everyone believed that Jesus could actually turn the water into winner as He did in the scripture. One little boy replied I have no trouble believing that He turned the water into wine. He said my father was an alcoholic and now he knows Jesus and I have seen God turn whiskey into furniture and food and things we needed. Think of the impact you could have by attending or by inviting someone who needs this. Then reach out to them.
Eyes closed. If you are not a member of this church I want to give you the opportunity today to make one of two decisions. You may have never invited Christ to come and live in your heart. He is alive. But the question is, IS HE ALIVE IN YOU? Because that is what matters. You need to make two decisions: (1) a decision to believe. To say He is real and that you acknowledge His existence. (2) a decision to receive Him. You see unfortunately many people believe in God but they have never made a personal decision to follow Him; to receive Him as their Lord and Savior. And if you haven't I want to invite you to do that today. If you have but you are looking for a church to call home I want to invite you to make this church your home today.
