Pt. 2 - IF
Introduction
It has been said and sung that talk is cheap. In our day and age it seems that is certainly true. Anyone can publish a book. Anyone can sit behind the anonymity of a keyboard and type out words that thousands can read and even believe. However, just because it is now cheap to talk doesn't mean the power of words are diminished. Words matter! Words are powerful! I am surrounded by words today and in a library, like this one, words are categorized. There are groups of words that fit into categories such as biographies, mystery, romance, reference and many others. The section I am in now is a very specific section. I can tell you, with apologies to my Star Wars fan friends, this section is not one that I am a fan of. This is the fiction section. However, although I am not a fan of this section, I can tell you who the biggest fan of fiction is in the entire universe. The devil absolutely loves fiction. As I mentioned last week, I believe it is essential to figure out what words the enemy has in his dictionary so that we can learn to discern when he is talking. I also mentioned that I believe he tends to only use a few words that he leverages over and over again simply because they are so effective.
I want us to look at one of the smallest words and most common words the enemy uses against us. It is so small it would seem to be insignificant and unnoteworthy. It would seem to be harmless and yet it has correctly been said dynamite comes in small packages. This tiny word is full of spiritual kryptonite. What it lacks in size it makes up for in destructive power. This little and devastating can undo faith, tenacity, determination, joy, and peace in mere moments. It is used to breed discontentment. The reason it works is that it gets us to believe fiction as fact.
You have probably guessed by now that one of the favorite words in the devil's dictionary is the word . . . IF!
I believe you can go throughout Scripture and see the devil uses this word to destroy people. Adam - I would not have fallen if you had not given me this woman. Cain - if my brother is dead I will be accepted or at least he will be forgotten. Abraham and Sarah - if we take matters into our hands we will be happy. Jonah - if I run I can get away from God. Even in the New Testament - Peter - if I go back to fishing I can forget about that guy named Jesus. Over and over again if impacts people.
There is a particular passage in the New Testament that shows Jesus deal with "if". Rather than read the very familiar account to you, let me take you to the exact moment the enemy uses the word "if" to overpower faith.
Text: John 11:32
When Mary finally found Jesus outside the village, she fell at his feet in tears and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
The fiction in the "if" first used by Martha and then by Mary is found when you read between the lines. "If you had been here" Jesus reveals that these ladies believed for a fact that Jesus could heal sickness. However, they also believed the fiction that He was not stronger than death. "If you have been here" reveals they believe that Jesus has messed up. He has made a mistake. He has crossed a point of no return. He has missed a, no pun intended, deadline - ok maybe the pun was intended.
Just a small note here . . . notice that they were so caught up in the fictional world created by "if" that they miss the fact that the Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, King of Kings, the Son of God, the author of life itself is right there in front of them. Their "if" discounts His ability and authority!
I also want you to notice something else that is extremely important. I recognize that this may have just have been undocumented because in light of what just took place this seems less than newsworthy. However, notice that when Jesus blows up the "if" in Martha and Mary's life by calling their brother Lazarus to come out of the tomb there is no account that there was any celebration. That is exactly what "if" does to us. If you would do these things Jesus, then we would be better off and happier! Then when those things happen we discover that "if" was a lie and we move on to the next thing that is supposed to make us happier or better!
You heard some of us use the word "if" at the beginning of the message. I would submit to you that whatever follows an "if" is probably fiction. Maybe you weren't in the video but that same statement is true for you too. Some said if I were taller. Have you ever met someone who was tall that wasn't any happier than someone who is short? If I had more money. Ever met someone who was financially set that was miserable? If I had a certain job or occupation. Haven't you come across someone who is in their "dream job" that they studied for, worked for, sacrificed for only to discover they hate it? Martha and Mary's "if" is the same "if" we become bound by today. If you had been here Jesus our story would have ended differently. If you had done what we expected. Our life would have taken a different course. If you had done what we asked, when we asked it. If you would have provided the raise when I needed you to. If you would have healed me when I expected it. If you would have answered my prayer when I first prayed it.
With the use of "if" the enemy sells us a promise of happiness. The fact is . . .
Contingent Contentment Leads to Catastrophe.
Stop just a second and go back and think about those who fell into the trap of "if" in Scripture and you discover that if they acted on their if as fact it caused huge problems. Cain cursed. Ishmael born. Jonah fish bait. Peter confronted. These people based their contentment on an "if" and it led to disastrous results.
When we attach our contentment to any "if" we are basing our ability to be happy, satisfied and fulfilled on something other than Jesus! It is fiction. If you base your contentment on someone doing something, acting a certain way, saying a certain thing then what if they don't? If you base your contentment of having a certain kind of career, house, car, friends, relationship, then what if you don't? Contingent contentment turns us into wounded, worried and wanting people.
Christ-based contentment breaks the power of "if." When we become content in Christ it turns us into strong people. Since no one can take our Christ, no one can take our joy. Christ's presences nullifies the fiction of "if". What you have in Christ is greater than anything you don’t have in life. Paul, teaches us in on the secret recipe to beating "if" in Philippians 4:12-13 - I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. (You may have learned that as I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me but you probably didn't learn the verses before that statement.) He had discovered the secret is contentment in Christ! His happiness wasn't based on the fiction of if - if I wasn't hungry, if I wasn't alone, if I wasn't in prison, if I wasn't beaten, if I wasn't mistreated. No! He says none of that matters. That is circumstantial and changes. Wealth is fleeting. Food comes and goes. My station in life changes. What doesn't change is who I am in Christ and who Christ is in me! That is consistent. Christ in me is enough!
Peter learned this too and that is why he could say in 2 Peter 1:3 - Everything (remember we have talked about that before - everything means everything) we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power. Anything we add with an "if" contradicts the fact of 2 Peter 1:3. You have everything you need! You may not have everything you want, but you have everything you need to be content.
Last week we talked about God changing the devil's never to His ever. This week I want to encourage you that God can change the devil's "if" into His "already." When you discover that you already have everything you need in Him, then you can't be trapped by the devil's "if". Instead of focusing on an "if I had" let's disarm the "if's" of the enemy by focusing on what we have already been given by Jesus. Let's refuse to overlook His presence. Let's refuse to overlook His peace. Let's refuse to take the grace, mercy, faithfulness, joy, and love He has already provided in our lives! If you sit around waiting on an "if" to happen you will discover that what you thought would satisfy really doesn't and won't. However, if you focus on what you already have you may discover that what you already have is what you need!
I want to challenge you this week to sit down and make a list of what you already have! You will most likely find out that what you already have is not only enough, it is more than you ever hoped for!
Prayer!
