Sermon
June 9, 2019
David Simpson –Lanier Christian Church (for Galilee Christian Church Special Message)
GET UP!
I played organized football for two years. Yep, I played on the defensive line for the Baldwin County Shriners. Last year, I saw my coach, Bill Milines, and he loves to tell the story that I had originally asked to be the fullback, one of the running backs for the team, but after being tackled by a group of about eight guys, I decided I didn’t want to touch the ball anymore.
You see, there is one very basic element of football that is the key to victory. When you get knocked down, whether blocked or tackled, you have to get back up and continue the game.
After I retired from the Youth Football League I moved on to play football with the neighborhood boys. We didn’t play two-hand touch, unless my mama was watching, no, we played tackle. Our yard was the most level playing field, so we played at my house. Well, as any football team does, you always try to size up the competition. You look to see who is bigger and faster and stronger. And when we played tackle football, it was my goal to avoid one player – the biggest guy in our neighborhood – Poof Space.
Poof was a giant of a young man. Tall, big and strong. We would elect a captain and each captain would choose players. I always wanted Poof on my team. I wanted him blocking for me, not tackling me to the ground!
But, even those days when Poof was the opponent, my goal when I was running the ball was to avoid him. If there was one thing in my favor, it was that I was fast and he was slow. Yet, from time to time, Poof tackled me and down I went with one of his famous one-armed tackles.
No matter what level of football you play – midget league, neighborhood, or high school, college or pros – know this: You will get knocked down.
What do you do when you get knocked down? Well, if you want to stay in the game, you get back up.
You don’t have to play football to get knocked down. There are circumstances in life that knock us down quite often. Accidents, illnesses, opposition, financial strains, broken relationships, job stresses, grief, depression, emotional burdens, challenges of every description.
How does a Christian deal with being knocked down? Our theme verse for the church this fall is: “We live by faith, not by sight.” It’s from 2 Corinthians 5:7
That’s who we are as believers. We are faith walkers. Does that mean we will never get knocked down? No, it just means we have God to help us get back up. You get up with God’s help and continue to live by faith.
Have you ever seen those football games where the quarterback is knocked on his back and another player offers him his hand to help him back up? Well, that’s what God does for us. 1 Peter 5:6 says: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Who lifts you up – God! His mighty hand reaches down to help us get back on our feet. Remember the old commercial for that alert system where the elderly person says: “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” Well….to a certain degree that’s exactly what God is waiting for. He’s waiting for us to say: “God, I can’t do this on my on. In faith I come to you knowing that you’ll provide the lifting – you’ll be my strength.”
But, the Lord wants you to get up. He wants you back in the game – back in the race. He wants you moving forward, not wallowing in defeat…because we live by faith, not by sight. The circumstances that knock us down could easily keep us down, but God made us to live by faith – not circumstances, the things we see. He gives us purpose and hope beyond the circumstances. So, you gotta get up and live by faith.
Throughout the Bible, we see God encouraging people to get up.
In 2 Samuel 12 there is a great story of King David dealing with grief, in fact the loss of a child. The prophet Nathan had warned David that the child of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba would die. As prophesied, the child became sick. David pleaded with God, fasted and prayed. He would not eat. He was devastated. He spent time on the ground. He had been knocked down. His attendants tried to get him to eat or to simply get up, but he refused.
Then, the child died. And David’s reaction surprised everyone around him. He bathed, he put on fresh clothes, he ate and most importantly, he worshiped.
The Bible says: 2 Samuel 12:21-23 21 His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”
22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
David was knocked down by grief, but he got up. He worshiped and he continued his walk of faith – knowing that he would see his child again one day. “I’ll go to him,” he said. David lived by faith. Sin and grief and death were not going to have the last word. He got up with the help of the Lord and resumed his work as King.
Elijah was knocked down by depression and self-pity. Queen Jezebel received word that he had killed her pagan prophets and she then sought to kill Elijah, so he ran for his life. Exhausted, he sat down under a tree and prayed that he might die and being totally spent, he fell fast asleep.
God responded to Elijah’s prayer. He began the process of lifting him up again after he had been knocked down. In fact, God sent his angel to help. Here is what the Bible says in 1 Kings 19:5-9
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
God provided Elijah with food and strength at his lowest point. Then he sent an angel to tell him to “Get up.” I’m not through with you. There’s work to do. Get back in the game and that’s exactly what he did.
When you get knocked down – God provides the lifting – He even provides the nourishment – physical and spiritual food - but you got to get up!
Jeremiah, the prophet had a hard time getting Israel – the children of God, to listen to him. They were a stubborn group of people who chose sin and rebellion over God. So God sent Jeremiah a basic message to give to the people, one anyone should understand: In Jeremiah 8 we read:
4 “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘When people fall down, do they not get up?
When someone turns away, do they not return?
5 Why then have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
God was frustrated that his own people were wallowing in their sin and rebellion. They had fallen down and stayed down! They had gone the wrong way and continued down the wrong path. And what God is saying is: When you fall down – when you’re knocked down - even if it’s your own fault…. When you sin – and you did it willingly – you got to make a course correction – and you gotta “get up;” and seek the Lord again.
In the greatest story that Jesus told – the story of the Lost Sons in Luke 15 – the prodigal son – the one that wasted his life and his money in wild living – he ended up living among the pigs and eating pig food. And the Bible says that “he came to his senses.” And what did he do next. Luke 15:20 says : “He got up and went to his father.”
He had been knocked down by his own poor choices, but he didn’t stay down – He got up! And he headed to his father – which is a reference to God in the story.
Throughout the Bible are descriptions of people who were knocked down by various circumstances, some of their own making, yet the phrase that is used over and over is “Get Up…and Live by faith once again!”
Jesus told the paralyzed man whom he healed, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” No more living in despair, get up!
(Matthew 9:6)
To the young girl that had died, as recorded in Mark 5, Jesus performed a miracle and raised her back to life and here is what he said:
Mark 5:41 (NIV) 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
Several of the disciples/the chosen apostles were caught by Jesus sleeping on the job; they had collapsed in exhaustion while Jesus was facing his most trying hour in the garden of Gethsemane and he says to them:
Luke 22:46 (NIV)
46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
Saul was an enemy of the church. His purpose was to knock down Christianity – to stop it at all costs by arresting every Christian he could find. He made “murderous threats,” against the church, the Bible says.
But God had something else in mind and while in the very midst of his murderous plotting – Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus and changed his name to Paul, the greatest missionary the church has ever known. And here is what God says to Paul:
Acts 22:16 (NIV)
16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
At this point, some of you are thinking, “I’ve been knocked down, but I can’t get up – not physically, not emotionally, not spiritually.” Then, it’s time to worship. It’s time to take your life before the throne of God and do as the Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7 – “Cast all your cares on him, for he cares for you.”
Then, allow the Lord to lift you up, beyond your circumstances, and give your life purpose and meaning despite what you and others see. Because, we live by faith and not by sight.
Joni Eareckson Tada grew up in Maryland living a most active life. She enjoyed riding horses, hiking, tennis and swimming. On July 30, 1967, at the age of 17, she dove into the Chesapeake Bay, after misjudging the shallowness of the water. She suffered a fracture in her spinal column which left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. A quadriplegic.
During her two years of rehabilitation, according to her autobiography Joni, she experienced anger, depression, suicidal thoughts, and religious doubts. However, during occupational therapy, Tada learned to paint with a brush between her teeth, and began selling her artwork. She also writes this way, although for most writing tasks she relies on voice recognition software. To date, she has written over forty books, recorded several musical albums, starred in an autobiographical movie of her life, and is an advocate for people with disabilities. (Wikipedia) She also speaks at conferences across the country sharing her dynamic faith in Christ. In addition, Joni fought a battle with stage 3 breast cancer undergoing radiation and chemotherapy and was declared cancer free in 2015.
There is no question that Joni has experienced what it’s like to get knocked down. But, oh, after going through the valley she has gotten up in a big way and God has used her to influence millions of people to live by faith and not by sight. Here are two of her quotes from her books:
“He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.” -Joni Eareckson Tada, A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God's Sovereignty
“The best we can hope for in this life is a knothole peek at the shining realities ahead. Yet a glimpse is enough. It's enough to convince our hearts that whatever sufferings and sorrow currently assail us aren't worthy of comparison to that which waits over the horizon.” – Joni Eareckson Tada
“The weaker I am, the harder I must lean on God’s grace; the harder I lean on him, the stronger I discover him to be, and the bolder my testimony to his grace.” – Joni E. Tada
“Faith isn’t the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It’s simply taking God at his word and taking the next step.” – Joni
In other words, you gotta get up! Take the next step spiritually first, then emotionally and physically if you can.
But, for every believer, I want you to know that your faith with one day be sight. You will see the glory of the Lord. You will see the face of Jesus. You will get up with his mighty power. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
And, Micah 7:8 of the Old Testament says:
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
Yes, as Christians we will one day rise up! And, I’m not talking about the Atlanta Falcons. One of the old spirituals is entitled “In that great getting’ up morning.”
There’s coming a day when he will raise up his children, with new bodies – no more pain, no more handicaps, no more stumbling, no more sorrow, no more death. We will get up one last time and be with him in a land where no one ever suffers.
No matter what you face today, we live by faith, not by sight. What we often see around us can be a burden no one can bear. But, when we live by faith there is an answer to every time we’re knocked down. You Get Up and walk by faith! And, if you can’t physically get up, then know this, God will raise you up for his good purpose despite what you see. And ultimately all of us will be raised to walk with him in our heavenly home.
So get up! Get up. Live boldly by faith!
