Title: Killing Lions-The Lion Of Despair
Date: 7/12/15
Place: BLCC
Text: 1 Peter 5.8-9
CT: Kill the lions of despair that are keeping you from God’s ideal.
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FAS: Recently I watched a program on the Animal Channel that showed a herd of buffalo and six lions. The lions were plotting to have a buffalo for dinner. Well, they found one buffalo that had strayed from the herd, maybe a couple hundred yards, and they went after that buffalo. So how do a few lions stop a buffalo?
[Screen 2]One lion grabbed the heel of one back leg of the buffalo, the other on the other back leg. And they just hung on until that buffalo slowed to a stop. Then one lion hopped on his back, another went after his stomach. And from there on you can just visualize what happened. It was gruesome.
But here's what shocked me. There were perhaps 100 buffalo, if not more, all standing and staring and watching this go down. I don't know if buffalo can think. But if buffalo could think, you know what they're thinking? Boy, am I ever glad that's not happening to me!
Imagine if this herd had decided we're not going to let those lions get away with anything, and together they ran thundering in that direction with their horns down. Those lions would have scurried away immediately. [Screen 3]The lions would never have a buffalo for lunch, if the buffalo had stuck together.
LS: There's a lesson for us there. First of all, Satan separates somebody from the herd or church. He makes them mad at the church and Christians, or angry because of some other reason. Once they're away from the herd, he intensifies his attack. And then when we hear of the spiritual struggles that a person faces we say to ourselves, Boy, am I ever glad that's not me! What we have to do as a congregation is to hang together. We have to close in and say we will not allow the devil to do this to our people and our self. Lets not let the devil have any of us for lunch. 1
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I. We are going to begin a new sermon series I have titled, Killing Lions. I got the idea from a book I read a few months ago. It told of a young Massai man from Kenya, Africa who came to the United States to pursue a masters and a doctoral degree. He was a young man of courage and had great perseverance. Once you learned his history, you understood why. [Screen 5]
Before arriving in the Modern Western world, he had been a warrior in his home village. With only a spear, he had defended the village’s herd of cattle by killing a lion. This practice was not uncommon. Young men of that village and tribe, by tradition, must face and defeat a lion with a spear to be seen as a man.
The young man had been badly wounded, as one would expect, but after slaying the predator, he was regarded as a hero and a leader. I can’t imagine school was much of a challenge or worry for him. He had stood down a lion and had the scars to show.
In this series we are going to seek out, together, as a group of followers of Christ, to destroy the lions in our lives that are keeping us away from God’s ideal for our lives. Included in this search we will encounter the lions of despair, doubt and fear, pride, and entitlement.
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II. So, who is the “Lion King” of this “Pride” of lions doing their best to devour us as Christians? The Bible speaks of these lions as far back in the Old Testament in [Screen 7] Jeremiah 4.7, A lion has come out of its lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste to your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant. NIV
Jeremiah was trying to warn these Israelites of the doom they were facing, but the people were blind to their own sins and turned their back on God. Their destruction came at the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. The Lion from the North. The people left God out of their lives and the Lion won.
But who leads the lions coming at us today? The Bible describes and warns of this leader of todays lions in[Screen 8] 1 Peter 5.8-9, 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. [Screen 9] 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering. NIV
But wait a minute. Why would God allow these lions to even come after us? Isn’t this how the “lion” of despair first gets hold of us. When things go wrong and we find ourselves in life struggles or see others with even worse struggles, we ask [Screen 10]“Why?”
I don’t think I’m overstepping to say this reveals what most people think—that God is the only one in our story. We say, “Why God” or “Why did you let this happen?”
Why is there a spiritual war with the lions going on in our lives?
Why are they trying to keep us from following Christ?
Why is this war really necessary?
God is the all powerful, almighty creator of all we see. Right!
Why doesn’t he just zap those lions himself?
You may be thinking, “How could you ask such a thing?”
How many people do you know who have asked this or maybe if we are honest we have asked it ourselves?
The answer can only be found in our faith. According to Christianity, God is love and created a world for love. In order for love to be real, you have to allow people to exercise their own [Screen 11] free will.
You would not want your spouse or child to be forced to love you. The most wonderful time for me is when my grandson Griffin runs up to me with his arms up yelling Papaw. But if someone had been going behind him with a cattle prod to make him run to me, it wouldn’t mean much. Would it?
By allowing creatures other than himself to exercise free will—both men and angels—God therefore allowed for the possibility of evil. He did not create it, but did allow for its possibility. It was first the angels, then mankind who chose to allow evil into the story. The evil found in the Bible comes from our free choice.
So, the lions are here. Satan is leading them.
Jesus had a name for Satan. He called him [Screen 12] “The father of lies” (John 8.44). Satan turns you from God. Satan deceives us with lies and falsehoods. He wants to steal God’s sons and daughters. [Screen 13] God wants to love us.
1 John 5.19, We know that we are children of God, and the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
There is a battle to be won.
So, maybe instead of asking God “Why” so much, we should ask him to “put down” or “rebuke” or “defeat” the father of lies, Satan. That’s what Jesus did.
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III. Lions attack sick, young, or straggling animals; they choose victims who are alone or not alert. Peter warns us to watch out for Satan when we are suffering or being persecuted. If you are feeling alone, weak, helpless, and cut off from other believers, or if you are so focused on your troubles that you forget to watch for danger, those are the times when you are especially vulnerable to Satan’s attacks. During times of suffering, seek other Christians for support. Keep your eyes on Christ, and resist the devil. Then, says James [Screen 15] (James 4.7) Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [Screen 16] Much like the lions after the buffalos if they had resisted.
How do we defeat the Lion of Despair? I enlisted my sermon partner for the rest of our sermon today. Marjorie Mitchell. Marjorie is a brilliant Christian lady who is suffering from ALS. Marjorie knows what despair is. I gave her a difficult assignment. I asked to tell us how we can slay the lion of despair. Here is what she shared with me.
She told me despair is this. Feeling like there is nothing to live for. You have reached the bottom of the barrel. And you can’t take any more.
Pretty much as it is described in [Screen 17] Ecclesiastes 2.20, So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.
Then Marjorie gave three things we can do to slay this lion. [Screen 18]
1) Prayer. Ask God for help to overcome this lion. Then listen to what he says. Listen to what He says. [Screen 19]
2 Corinthians 1.8-11, 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.
9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
2) [Screen 20] Encourage one another. Be a refresher, not a drainer. Listen to and lift each other up. Reflect Jesus to one another. Keep your joy no matter what. I always tell Tyler, our youth minister, “Don’t let them take your joy!!”[Screen 21]
2 Corinthians 13.11-12, 11Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. [Screen 22]
3) Have an attitude of hope.
Hope-grounds for believing something good may happen. [Screen 23]
Hope + Faith =Assurance.
Always remember we have a positive outcome guaranteed through Jesus Christ. Our inheritance is assured. [Screen 24]
1 Peter 1.3-9, 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 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, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
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CT: Kill the “lion of despair” that is keeping you from God’s ideal.
Pray. Encourage one another. Have hope in the one Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: I want to close today with a scripture that is probably very familiar to us all. I heard it twice this week at funerals. Funerals can be a time of despair and this scripture really deals with our despair. But today I want us to see that this scripture applies to our life everyday. Lets read together: [Screen 26]“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. [Screen 27] My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? [Screen 28] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. [Screen 29] You know the way to the place where I am going.
Jesus is the way. Jesus is the way to kill our lions. Let Him take your battle today. Wont you come. Repent and be baptized in Jesus Christ.
Bibliography: Eldredge, Sam, and John Eldredge. Killing lions: a guide through the trials young men face. Nashville: Nelson , an imprint of Thomas Nelson, 2014. Print.
Mitchell, Marjorie, my friend, now deceased after her battle with ALS.
1 Erwin Lutzer, "A Contested Universe," Leadership Journal (Spring, 2012), p. 54
