TITLE: TRUSTING GOD
SCRIPTURE: EPHESIANS 3:14-21
There are several things I want to address in this morning’s message that don’t necessarily all flow together very smoothly. But I think that’s okay. If you find anything these days that’s flowing together smoothly, please let me know. In this time of a pandemic, seems like it has been hard to connect the dots in many areas of our lives.
The media has inundated the world with information about the virus. Every day, multiple times a day, people are receiving information about the virus’ spread - new government-imposed restrictions - advice on how to distance oneself from others properly - opening up business in phases - and much more.
• Of course, the preacher is not an expert in such areas and therefore, should not feel the burden of replicating the media’s task
• However, this begs the question - WHAT IS THE PREACHER’S RESPONSIBILITY DURING THESE TIMES?
• Do we just Preach as usual?
• Do we continue with a series we began months ago?
• Do we have a responsibility to address the Pandemic in our preaching?
Right now, Christians have the opportunity, just as they did during the plagues and epidemics of history, to distinguish themselves from the world. It is the Preacher’s responsibility to lead the flock during this pandemic for that very purpose.
• We look to the News and Government for our Health
• We look to the Preacher for our Hope
• Competent preachers teach their congregations biblical doctrine and resultant application weekly
• It is the preacher's responsibility to prayerfully imagine how a biblical text, and the truth about God and man therein, results in a gospel-motivated response of loving God and loving neighbor
• In times like these, we need very little imagination because the issue of life is right up in our face
• We can’t be so AFRAID OF DYING THAT WE FORGET TO LIVE
Preaching leadership and hope at this time can take various forms.
• Some may decide to take a break from their current sermon series to address the issue in front of us
• In contrast, others might choose to remain in their existing series and apply their sermons directly to answer the question - WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO LOVE GOD AND NEIGHBOR DURING THIS PANDEMIC?
I believe the key we should be sharing and encouraging our membership and the Kingdom should be above everything else, we must be found – TRUSTING GOD. As believers we cannot be living in fear like so many of those around us that have no real relationship with the Lord. II TIMOTHY 1:7 “FOR GOD HATH NOT GIVEN US THE SPIRIT OF FEAR; BUT OF POWER, AND OF LOVE, AND OF A SOUND MIND.”
• Let’s remember to let faith rule our hearts and not fear
• I absolutely believe we should take this pandemic seriously, use precaution and exercise wisdom
• At the same time, we can do so while keeping our faith in a LIVING – LOVING – CARING GOD
If God took care of us before this pandemic, please know that He has not changed. Although everything is changing at rapid speed around us, God is not.
• He is the same faithful God before this outbreak that He will be once it passes
• Our faith can be steady because our God is faithfully unchanging
If we are not careful, fear can rob us of three essential gifts from God that we desperately need at this time. Recall the text I just quoted.
• POWER -- enables us to live a life of faith when it’s not Easy
• LOVE -- enables us to share and sacrifice when it’s not Convenient
• A SOUND MIND -- --allows us to experience Peace, even when everything seems to be going wrong all around us
• There is too much at stake to give in to fear during this season
• Now more than ever, we need Power - Love - and a Sound Mind
• Fear is too costly of a price to pay
• Choose faith and Trust God
The Apostle Paul in our text is found praying that the Father will strengthen us with power through the work of His Spirit such that we will –
• Think and Speak and Live by Faith
• Be more fully transformed into His likeness
• More aligned with Him in our inner being
• To walk in a manner worthy of our calling
• Not our calling as Preachers, but our calling as Christians
We must remember our Trust and our Strength comes from our inner being, that is the place where we are strengthened by his spirit. The Internal Strength helps our Outward Walk. As Paul wrote in II CORINTHIANS 4:16 “FOR WHICH CAUSE WE FAINT NOT; BUT THOUGH OUR OUTWARD MAN PERISH, YET THE INWARD MAN IS RENEWED DAY BY DAY.” This is the place where we are strengthened with the Holy Spirit’s Power to trust Jesus, and then to live in that trust - keep on TRUSTING GOD.
I can’t think of a better word for us to hear this morning than this! I can’t think of a more appropriate or timely word. These are not days in which it’s easy to live by faith. All the things we were hearing about coronavirus even just a few weeks ago are up in the air right now.
• It doesn’t just hit older and immune-compromised people
• Children are not entirely unthreatened by it, as we have seen the past few weeks
• Many will be hospitalized by it
• Sad reality is many lives will still be lost
• Republicans and Democrats will continue to fight and give their own spin
• Trump spends more time fighting those that don’t bow down to him instead of fighting this COVID-19 and presenting a clear plan
• We don’t know what to believe or who to trust
• But this I do know – I am going to continue TRUSTING GOD
If ever there were a time when our eyes could be drawn away from Christ toward the waves of fear and doubt, right now is such a time! And if ever our trust could be fixed in the good intentions of our persistent efforts, right now is such a time.
Our safety as we see it is tied up with how consistently and thoroughly we --
• Wash our hands
• How conscientiously we maintain our social distance
• How faithful we are to wearing masks in public
• How deliberately we sequester ourselves from public life
But that is not where our safety comes from. That’s not how our health is maintained. Yes, each of these disciplines is important in a time of pandemic. And as we have stated, adhering to them is not just an exercise in self-protection; it’s how we best love one another. But our faith is not fixed in these practices. They are not the ultimate means by which we are kept safe.
• There is one God in heaven - Who is King and Lord of all
• There is one God in heaven - to Whom every entity in this universe is subject
• There is one God in heaven - who speaks to the Wind – Waves - Pandemics
Even the occasional virus that is new to finite and vulnerable human beings has been known eternally by this great and glorious God!
• And we are His
• He is our Father
• We are His image-bearing creatures
• And He reigns over us
• He has named us, each and all
• He already knows our todays from our tomorrows
Therefore, no virus will touch us unless he has given it permission.
• No virus will take us unless He has appointed it to do so
• And if the washing of our hands and the keeping of our distance has resulted in our sustained health, it’s not because those practices are fool-proof
• It is because our God has purposed them as the means by which we are being taught to walk by faith in Him, and the way in which He has willed to achieve His purpose in us
Look at the scripture text again it says -- ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GLORY, HE STRENGTHENS US WITH POWER THROUGH HIS SPIRIT IN OUR INNER BEING SO THAT CHRIST MAY DWELL IN OUR HEARTHS THROUGH FAITH. God our Father strengthens us inwardly through the work of His Spirit so that, through faith, Christ may take up residence with us, and enable us to grasp the limitless dimensions of God’s love for us!
• No virus can touch that!
• No human effort can displace it!
• That is our Power
• That is our Hope
• That is our deliverance and confidence and life!
• Yes, that is where we live!
• And when we live there, it makes all the difference!
When we live there --
• Old things like FEAR - DREAD - HOPELESSNESS - pass away - They die!
• And new things like COURAGE - CONFIDENCE - HOPE - are born
• That’s what happens when we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us
• Those new things give us the strength to stand up straight and tall when the world arounds us is cowering in fear
• They enable us to step out in love when the world around us is retreating into dread and fear
Some even have fear, as to what is going to happen to the local church. We are being reminded in this season - the church is not about us.
• It is not about our Convenience
• It is not about our Pleasure or Comfort
• It is about God
• It is about God’s purpose
So, in whatever situation the world finds itself, it is the church’s duty to search for God’s purpose in that situation like in the COVID-19 experience.
• God has a purpose in allowing this outbreak
• We need to discover that purpose for the church to work together with God and pray effectively to help in that situation
• This is not the time to go into hiding
• This is not the time to be fearful of those around us wondering if they have it or not
• This is the time to check on the elderly
• This is the time to check on that young family struggling to pay bills and feed the children
• This is the time to check on our neighbors to see if they need anything
• This is the time to spend more time in daily prayer
Let me be clear and make sure you understand what I am saying here. This is no license for a Christian to be cavalier or nonchalant about the coronavirus. We should take proper precautions and listen to medical and governmental authorities that the Lord in His Wisdom and Goodness has given us. But as we listen and heed wise counsel, and as we take precautions and use the good medical gifts that he has given us like doctors - nurses - hospitals - medicines, we do so without letting our trust shift from Him to those gifts. in other words, we must be careful to love and trust the giver more than the gifts he gives.
That is a challenge that we constantly face, isn’t it? God has been so good to us in so many ways — He has showered us with so many good gifts — that we are regularly tempted to think that it is the TYLENOL that takes away our fever and not Him. When we fall into the pattern of thinking like that then when we get sick, our first and sometimes our only thoughts tend to be that what we really need is medicine rather than God. This was the sin of KING ASA in II CHRONICLES 16:12 “AND ASA IN THE THIRTY AND NINTH YEAR OF HIS REIGN WAS DISEASED IN HIS FEET, UNTIL HIS DISEASE WAS EXCEEDING GREAT: YET IN HIS DISEASE HE SOUGHT NOT TO THE LORD, BUT TO THE PHYSICIANS.”
• I don’t rely on this Blood Pressure Medication - Alone
• I don’t rely on all these Inhalers I use - Alone
• I don’t trust the Nebulizer to Clear my Lungs – Alone
• I don’t rely on the Neuro Stimulator Implant – Alone
• I thank God for touching DOCTORS - NURSES - ENGINEERS - SCIENTISTS with the knowledge to help us
• I trust God first above everything else
• I am TRUSTING GOD
In and through every precaution that believers take, we must remind each other to remember our God and Father in heaven.
• Let’s pray to Him
• Let’s Trust Him
• Let’s Hope in Him as we take appropriate measures in the face of the Coronavirus
• Because we are TRUSTING GOD
As fear gives way to more and more panic, God’s people must remember to show love to our neighbors — love that is motivated by our supreme love for Him. We can do this because we ourselves have been loved at such a great cost and in way that results in being reconciled to our Creator.
• So, when others Hoard -- we Share
• When others Steal -- we Give
• When others Hide -- we Serve
• When others give way to Fear -- we comfort in the Hope of knowing that our God loves us
• In our hearts we honor Christ the Lord as Holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us; and we do it with gentleness and respect
So, what then can Christians say to an anxious world?
• Can we solve this problem?
• No, not at all, we as Christians cannot solve it
• Being a Christian is not so much a person who has solved the problem of PAIN – SUFFERING - AND THE CORONAVIRUS, but one who has come to love and trust a God who has himself suffered
Let me move toward a close this morning. We need to be in touch with one another through the week.
• Your brothers and sisters need to hear from you
• And you need to hear from them
• So, don’t wait!
• Take the initiative
• Don’t take the risk of sitting around wondering if you mean enough to someone for them to give you a call
• Give them a call!
• Make it Facetime, if you are an iPhone user, or a Google Hangout or Skype
Take good care of one another while we are forced to keep our distance.
• Isolation is the breeding ground for fear and anxiety
• Don’t let that happen to one another
• Learn, my brothers and sisters
• Learn what you mean to one another to the praise of God’s glorious grace
• And take good care of one another because Christ dwells in all of your hearts by faith
• Step outside of your family and call and check on your neighbor
--I am glad this morning that Jesus’ has authority over sickness
--Jesus heals a woman suffering from a fever with simply His word
--Under His perfect dominion, Jesus commands the fever to leave, and it obeys
--A woman bleeding for 12 years, in desperation, she reaches to touch the Hem of His robe
--Feeling power go out from Him, Jesus tells this woman that she is healed by her faith
--He then moves to heal a young girl at the point of death
--Jesus heals her with the command to “wake up and take up her bed”
--Jesus approaches an invalid, telling the man to get up and walk — instantly he is healed
--Jesus tells a hand full of lepers 10 I believe, to go show themselves to the Priests, they were healed as the went
--Peter’s mother in law, sick with a fever, Jesus touched her hand and the fever left
--Jesus stops a Funeral in the little Town of Nain and tells a boy who was now dead to live again and he rises to the embrace and tears of his mother
--While the COVID-19 virus is certainly serious, we as Christians can put our trust in the fact that God is in control
--Jesus has the authority and power to heal WHO HE WANTS - WHEN HE WANTS - AND HOW HE WANTS
--We may not fully understand God’s plan in the midst of this pandemic
--But we can trust that His plan is always for Our Good and His Glory
--Even as our plans change, the purpose of the Lord remains faithful
--In this trial, Jesus does not leave us; rather, the cross remains our only Hope of assurance
--I don’t know about you, but I am going to keep TRUSTING GOD
--As this pandemic reveals our world’s complete LACK OF CONTROL - ULTIMATE FEAR OF DEATH - AND UNBEARABLE PAIN, let us consider how we might instead proclaim how JESUS WIPES AWAY EVERY TEAR - CONQUERS OVER THE GRAVE - AND REMAINS OUR ONLY HOPE IN LIFE AND DEATH
--Put your hope in the hands of a God willing to suffer in your place
--Don’t let Sin and Sickness move you to Fear and Bitterness
--Instead, let us fear the Lord
--Let this pandemic usher you to trust in the Father who is over all things
--Let your faith be found in the One who died to remove suffering from the world once and for all
--Trusting that our hope does not stand in our health and safety - but in Christ alone
--I am going to keep on – TRUSTING GOD
--I don’t care what Trump says, I will keep on – TRUSTING GOD
--I don’t care what the CDC recommends, I will keep on – TRUSTING GOD
--I don’t care about various Governors fighting over right time to open the states, I will keep on – TRUSTING GOD
--I don’t care if another Stimulus Check will be approved by the Senate or not I will keep on -TRUSTING GOD
MY HOPE IS BUILD ON NOTHING LESS THAN JESUS BLOOD AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
I DARE NOT TRUST THE SWEETEST FRAME BUT WHOLLY LEAN ON JESUS NAME
ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK I STAND
ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND
