The question is not will we will face mountains in our lives, the question is how will we face them? That is a great question and that is what we are talking about in this series but before we jump back into that good morning and welcome to this place that we call DCC. We are excited, pumped, and jazzed to have you with us here this morning and that is especially true if you are brand new. If that is you we think it is important that you know that all of your story is safe here regardless of how it reads, you belong with us regardless of what you believe, and you are not alone in fact, you have walked into a place today full of people just like you. So thank you for being willing to take a chance on us if you are new and as always we want to give a special shout out and welcome to all of our online friends out there too.
So the question in this series really can be boiled down to this how are we going to overcome the mountains that we are all going to face and are facing in our lives even as we sit here today? We kicked this thing off last week by talking about how we have to refuse to allow ourselves to believe that overcoming is impossible, lean into people for help, and hold on to the promise that we are not alone. That’s a great place to start but it’s just that a start. Today, I want us to talk about learning to overcome the harsh reality and truth that we are confronted with in this statement “life’s not fair”.
ILLUST> I have a pastor buddy in town named Daniel who I get together with about 4 times or so a year. He’s a great guy. Without fail every single time that we get together I get a thank you note in the mail the following our meeting thanking me for investing in him and telling me how I make him better and challenge him. He always includes a Starbucks gift card in with the note as a way to say thanks, which I immediately turn and give to my daughters, which always creates also immediately creates a problem for me, which one. I initially tried to take turns but ultimately determined that the best way is to give it to one without the other knowing. Why? Because I don’t want to hear what parents of multiple children become so accustomed to hearing “that’s not fair” “it’s not fair”. I wish I had a dollar for every time that I have heard that. My guess is that this is a me too moment for many other parents in the room today too. This everyone is a winner, everyone gets a trophy world that we are living in really isn’t helping us with that. So, I don’t know about you but my typical response happens to be this, life’s not fair, you had better learn to get used to that.
So that’s the response that I give to my kids to try and shut them down but if I am honest I struggle with life not being fair too. We don’t have to look far to see it. We find ourselves living in a world where bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people, a world where care accidents happen and people in one car die while the drunk driver in the other car walks away without a scratch. I have a great relationship with my four girls today. My best friend Robert was killed in a tragic car accident almost 20 years ago leaving behind two daughters the same age as my oldest two at the time ages 6 and 4 who would grow up never knowing their daddy. Kids die of cancer, the manipulator gets the promotion and the honest hard-working dedicated person gets phased out. Life’s not fair. So, what do we do when the cards that life seems to continue to play us just don’t seem fair? How do we overcome when the path that we are traveling just continues to go from bad to worse? That’s what I want to talk about in the time we have left together today.
If you brought a Bible we are going to be in 2 different places today starting in Matthew 26 and then moving back and forth between there and Luke 22. If you don’t have a Bible they are back on the back tables that you can grab right now if you would like if you close or on you can always grab one on your way out. As always you can hit our app or the You Version app too. Or you can ignore all of that and read along with me on the screens. So here we go Matthew 26 starting with verse 36…
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Okay. So one of the things that I love the most is the different camera angles that the authors of the gospel provide for us. It is the exact same moment in the exact same story but the camera angle and focus is slightly different. Let’s switch to Luke’s camera on this exact moment. His camera is a little more tightly focused in on Jesus in this moment. Watch this, Luke chapter 22 verse 41…
41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
So after Jesus has had the last supper with his disciples and Judas has left to betray Jesus, the rest of them head out with Jesus across the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane. Just for a little perspective here is a photo of my daughter Sloane sitting in the garden spot in modern Israel that most scholars agree was most likely Gethsemane. She was just there this past week. I’m jealous. So Jesus takes 11 with him, drops 8 near the gate, takes Peter, James, and John the three he is closest to further into the garden with him, tells them that he is overwhelmed with sorrow, asks them to pray and keep watch and then moves a little further away to be alone with his Father and pray. The prayer goes something like this. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me? Can we take this away, can we change the plan? We have all been there. Some of us are there right now. That’s why this is so important for us to see. When the road gets rough for us, are you ready…
GOD EXPECTS AND WELCOMES OUR QUESTIONS AND DOUBTS. This moment is very intense for Jesus, his sweat is like drops of blood falling to the ground. He clearly sees the pain in front of him, he sees the path to the cross, he knows that he is going to be beaten, tortured and hung on a cross to die. Yes, he ultimately concedes his desires to the desires of his father, your will be done, but don’t miss this not before asking this question, is there another way, is there a way around this, is there a way out of this, is there another cup that I can drink of here. Jesus doesn’t deserve it. He is totally and completely innocent. What is getting ready to happen to him is totally and completely unfair. So here’s the question. When life’s not fair am I more like Jesus or more like this?
*************ROLL LION KING CLIP****************
When scar believes that life is unfair he whines, schemes and takes things into his own hands. Jesus goes to his father. He asks for another way. When you read this God is obviously okay with his question. He is with our questions too.
ILLUST> Last week after second service I was out in the lobby having a conversation with my friends Randy and Donnette Shaw. Randy is Wade our worship leaders father. Randy lost his wife, Wade’s mom Raegin to cancer about 3 years ago. Donnette lost her husband to cancer just before that. God has done this incredibly beautiful thing in the way that he has brought them together now as husband and wife. It’s a beautiful story that recently took a hard turn when Donnette was diagnosed with cancer. Doubts and questions naturally come to the surface. Seriously, where is God in this? As they walked away I remember thinking God what are you doing? Here is this unbelievable couple that you have brought together, who are doing more Kingdom work together to help rescue others than just about any two people I know and boom. Donnette had surgery this past week, it went well, and I expect God to heal her but once again it just doesn’t seem right, it doesn’t seem fair.
See, the challenge is not God being okay with our questions, He is. The far greater challenge is us learning to be okay with his answers? Don’t miss this. Jesus doesn’t get the answer he is looking for here. In fact, he really doesn’t get an answer at all. God sends an angel to comfort him and to give him the strength to continue. Think about that for a minute. When we get no answer or a “no” answer from God where does that leave us? Let’s be honest, it can leave us feeling like God is not there or that he really doesn’t care. Have you ever concluded that God is not there or doesn’t care based on his response to your prayers? It is so easy to go there.
Jesus knows the rest of the story and yet he still goes to his father asking for a different plan. We don’t know where the path leads. Don’t you think that God has to be okay with our doubts and questions too? Of course he is. He understands that we can’t completely understand him. He tells us that in Isaiah 55. My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts. So why won’t God just change our circumstances and change the plan? Hopefully this moment helps us all with that, He didn’t even do that for his own perfect son Jesus. A big part of overcoming is recognizing that just like in this moment with Jesus, overcoming is not always getting the answer we are looking for, sometimes it is getting the comfort and strength to walk into it and through it. Let’s pick the story back up with Matthew. Here we go verse 40…
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” 43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. 45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Jesus doesn’t hesitate to continue to come to his Father with what he wants, desires, and desperately needs and we shouldn’t either, but there is something else here that we need to pay attention to here. Jesus not only takes his heart and desires to his Father 3 times, he returns 3 different times to find his closest friends sleeping. What is up with that? I mean, he has told them that he is overwhelmed with sorrow and yet their fatigue tends to trump his sorrow not once, not twice, but three times. It’s a disappointing moment, a disappointing moment that points to something that we need to understand and see…
WE MUST UNDERSTAND THE LIMITATIONS OF THOSE AROUND US. Jesus clearly wants these 3 guys near him. They are his inner circle, the 3 who were with him when he was transfigured and had a conversation with Moses and Elijah on the mountain and the only three there when he raised a little girl from the dead. So yes, Jesus wants these guys close, but he also understands their limitations. We have all had moments in our lives where we have needed people only to be disappointed by their response or lack of response. Unfortunately people disappointing us and hurting us will always be a part of our lives. I am not suggesting that we give up on people. We shouldn’t give up, but we must understand the limitations of those around us.
ILLUST> One of the biggest challenges for me with where our church has grown to is that this disappointment and hurt thing that has become a regular part of my job in leading this place. Once upon a time I was the funeral and weddings guy in this place. These days I probably get asked to do between 20 and 30 weddings a year. I’ll admit that I am not always good at saying it but my answer is and has to be no. I have a few reserved for my 3 single daughters but beyond that I can’t. Some people don’t understand that. See, there is no way I can do that and preach 40 weekends a year and lead my lead team, elders, staff, and be present and available as a husband, dad, and grandfather. Sometimes hearing us say no hurts and disappoints and I hate hurting and disappointing people. I’ve done enough of that in my lifetime to last a lifetime but I have to say no and hope that people understand my limitations.
Understanding the limitations of people around us helps us avoid trying to slide them into spaces and places in our lives that only God can really fill. None of us can ever do what God can do or bring what God can bring. Jesus recognizes the limitations of the three guys with him. At their very best, they can only take him so far. Only his Father is capable of helping him overcome the things that he is facing at this moment in his life. That’s true in all of our lives and stories too. If we really want to overcome, it is important that we recognize that. Okay, so let’s finish this, back to Luke verse 47…
47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. 51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
Let’s finish where we started back to Matthew 26 verse 52…
52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” 55 In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. 56 But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
Jesus looks up after having put the ear back on one of the very men who is there to arrest him. The people closest to him, including his 3 closest friends, are all gone, they have all run away. Here he now stands totally and completely alone and innocent, falsely accused, chained up, and being ready to be led away to be tried, convicted, tortured, beaten, and hung on a cross to die for something that he didn’t deserve and didn’t do. If we really want to talk about the ultimate “life’s not fair” moment isn’t this it? The plan hasn’t changed, things will get a lot worse before they will ever get better. If we really want to overcome there is a very important and helpful take away here for all of us...
THE PLAN SELDOM MAKES SENSE IN THE MIDST OF THE PAIN. Despite Jesus knowledge of the rest of the story he still struggled with the plan in the midst of the pain. It just makes sense that we would too. As I was thinking about Donnette and praying for her surgery and recovery this week I found myself trying to come up with an answer that would help what she is going through make sense for me, for her, and for others. I couldn’t get there. I finally arrived at this. Maybe the best thing for my heart, the best way for me to overcome is to stop trying to understand. I think John Eldredge is on to something when he says “you can have God or you can have understanding, sometimes you can have both.”
ILLUST> Back at the beginning of 2010 we were a church of about 100 people. We were dead broke, our rent in the space over at Powers and Barnes was coming due and we didn’t have the money. We thought we would really grow when we moved out of the high school and into that space. 5 months had passed and we really hadn’t. It was the lowest of lows for me. I begged God to get my family out of Colorado Springs and promised that I would walk away from ministry for the rest of my life if he would just do that. See, when I was in the desert out of ministry for over three years I had a lot of people tell me that I should never be in ministry again because I had crashed and burned as a pastor and had an affair. Those voices were still in my head. I knew that Jesus promised that he was going to build his church and that not even the gates of Hell would stop it. That was obviously not happening here. The plan made no sense in the midst of the pain. In an effort to make sense of it all, I concluded that the voices were right and that I had to be the problem in this story. So I agreed to quit, to be done forever. 10 days later 50 new people showed up on one Sunday and here we are today. It makes sense now but God’s plan made absolutely no sense in the midst of the pain. It seldom does.
My own experience is this, things that seldom make sense looking out the windshield, often become crystal clear in the rear view mirror. January of 2010 makes a lot more sense to me today than it did when I was going through it. The problem and challenge that we face is that the journey from confusion to clarity requires trust. Going into 2010 a big part of my trust was still in my own talent, ability and strength. God wanted me to have my trust in him. So here’s the question. Is our bigger problem and issue really that life’s not fair or that we really don’t trust God to see us through it? Let’s finish with this, Philippians chapter 4…
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Present your requests to God and he will change your circumstances. That’s what we want it to say, me too. Unfortunately, that’s not what it says. The promise is not a plan with less pain, the promise is peace in the midst of the pain. God didn’t change the plan with Jesus, He sent an angel to care for him and strengthen him. God doesn’t promise to change the circumstances or change the plan, He promises us the strength and peace, He promises us the ability to overcome. God is okay with our doubts and our questions. So let’s keep praying for the story to change but in the meantime and more importantly let’s continue to lean hard into God’s promise of strength and peace in the pain. Let me pray for us.
