An Untroubled New Year 2020 - 2021
- Read John 14:1-7
Don’t let your heart be troubled. Don’t let your “heart”, from the Greek, kardia your heart, your thoughts and feelings. Don’t let your thoughts or feelings be troubled.
Let me ask you, “How’d you do with that this past year?” I have to admit, I don’t think I did very well. I have been troubled, I have been upset, I have been worried about a great many things.
I have worried about the Covid stuff. I haven’t honestly worried about getting it much, though I have had folks I know who have died from it, and family members who have had it. I haven’t been troubled about getting it, though I understand how some with medical conditions could be; but I have worried about how we, as a church, can operate and how we could hold Christmas in the Country without anyone getting it. I was troubled by the way, in many states and cities, government has seized upon Covid as an excuse to close down churches, or at least, greatly curtail their work and ministry; while allowing casinos, and liquor and marijuana stores to remain open. That has troubles me.
I worried, I was troubled, trying to figure out how to operate the church while not doing anything which might cause the government to get into our business, or seek to close us down.
I worried, I was troubled about our community, and the businesses you and I have seen closing down, and the people out of work, while many in our government, still drawing their paychecks, have turned a blind eye to people losing their jobs or businesses and some, everything they have spent a lifetime building. I was troubled.
I was troubled when elected officials abandoned whole sections of their cities, and the businesses and people living there, and allowed violence and anarchy to run the streets.
I was troubled by people tearing down statues, attempting to erase the past, pointing out our failures while ignoring the success we have had in this God-blessed country. Have we, as a nation and a people, made mistakes in the past, acted with prejudice and disregard for others? Yes we have. But we have also built a nation where people of every color, every religion, and every nationality have succeeded, and prospered. We have built a nation that is the first to respond when there is tragedy, or disaster around the world, with volunteers, materials, and compassion. Our nation has stood beside other people and countries and fought back Hitler and liberated whole continents, asking nothing in return and actually rebuilding those countries and allowing them to charge us extra for the goods they produced while their economies were being rebuilt. Our people and our nation has stood against the advance of murdering, godless communism, shouldering a disproportionate amount of the expense of the world’s defense because we believed it to be the right thing to do.
I was troubled, angered, when people who have never known a day of hunger or want in their lives, complained about the country that has provided them with so much.
I was angered and troubled by the double standard many of our politicians have established. In the interest of public safety, ya’ll shouldn’t get together with your families, or travel or eat in a restaurant, or go get your hair done, but it’s ok for me, because I’m important.
Gladys and I, and many of you, have tried to set aside some money to prepare for our retirement. Right now, our politicians are ignoring basic laws of economics, printing and spending money like it is going out of style, and with every dollar spent and printed, they make what you and I have scrimped and saved, often at great sacrifice, worth less and less. It has troubled me.
How about this week? Anything trouble you about this week? Anything bother you about having our nation’s capital stormed? Anything bother you about congress again talking about impeaching the president? Anything bother you about Twitter and other social media outlets shutting down the president and other conservative’s accounts so they are unable to publicly respond or to give their perspective?
There is a social media site called parlor, somewhat similar to twitter, where Christians and conservatives have gone to share views and opinions, fearing censorship on other outlets. This week, for a while, Microsoft made it impossible for that media outlet to be used on the phones they support. Conservatives and Christians are being censored. Does that bother you?
In the midst of all of this, our study of the book of John takes us here, in God’s timing, where we find Jesus saying, “Don’t let your heart be troubled.” Really? Don’t let your heart be troubled?
Is Jesus teaching us that Christianity is supposed to be some pollyanna religion where we paste on plastic smiles and act like everything is beautiful? A religion and a world where there are no concerns, and no pain?
In spite of what some may try to say, the answer to that is a resounding no. In life there are troubles and there are pains, and pretending they don’t exist or that they don’t hurt won’t make them go away.
What does the Bible tell us Jesus did when He first got to the tomb of His friend Lazarus? He wept. He cried. And guess what, I’ve cried at a few gravesides myself.
Do I know I’ll see those folks again? Often, since I am a Christian minister, the answer is yes. Do I know that they are often better off than they were in this life? Yes. But that doesn’t mean their loss leaves me unmoved. It doesn’t mean we Christians don’t miss their company and pretending doesn’t make it so. To ask a parent to not cry at the graveside of their child makes no sense.
Was Jesus troubled when He saw what was going on in the Temple, when He saw livestock being sold, and folks being swindled by the money changers? Was He troubled when He saw injustice, and when He saw a woman caught in adultery, being threatened by a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites? Yes.
Look back with me, 1 chapter, to John 13 and verse 21.
- Read John 13:21.
Jesus had just announced that scripture would be fulfilled that stated that the one who ate bread with Him would raise his heel against Him. Jesus had just announced that 1 would betray Him, and His spirit was troubled.
So what is Jesus saying in John 14?
He is saying, in spite of the things going on in this life, in spite of the pain, setbacks and difficulties associated with being a Christian in this world, we have more cause not to be troubled than we have to be troubled. Then He gives us 4 reasons to not dwell on our troubles.
I. WE ARE NOT OVERWHELMED BY OUR TROUBLES BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IN GOD.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul writes, we are not a people without hope.
We can be grieved by what we see happening in the world, and disappointed by the changes we see happening in our country, but these things do not overwhelm us because we Christians believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present God who is in charge of all things.
> Daniel 2:21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
We are not like unbelievers who have no hope. We believe In a God Who raises up leaders and tears down others. Nothing is beyond His strength and power.
Since our son has been in Denver, the city has largely been locked down. He’s been working from home since he first went out there. Most of the people he works with are not believers. Gladys and I have on occasion been troubled, concerned that children today will not grow up in a world like we knew it.
But, we are reminded of what Mordecai told his niece Esther when she was made queen of Persia. In Esther 4:14, Mordecai asks his niece, who is now queen,
> Esther 4:14 Who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
In other words, God knew all of this was going to be happening and placed Esther where she was, when she was, because He was going to use her to make a difference in that nation.
What was true of Esther, is also true of our children and grandchildren. I was reminded of that this past week when I read something someone posted on line, the day the capital building was stormed. In that day, Ryan Derrick wrote, “Don’t feel sorry for or fear for your kids because the world they are going to grow up in is not what it used to be. God created them and called them for the exact moment in time that they’re in. Their life wasn’t a coincidence or an accident. Raise them up to know the power they walk in as children of God. Train them up in the authority of His word. Teach them to walk in faith knowing that God is in control. Empower them to know that they can change the world. Don’t teach them to be fearful and disheartened by the state of the world but hopeful that they can do something about it. Every person in all history has been placed in the time they were in because of God’s sovereign plan. He knew Daniel could handle the lion’s den. He knew David could handle Goliath. He knew Esther could handle Haman. He knew Peter could handle persecution. He knows that your child can handle whatever challenge they face in their life. He created them specifically for it! Don’t be scared for your children, but be honored that God chose you to parent the generation that is facing the biggest challenges of our lifetime. Rise up to the challenge. Raise Daniels, Davids, Esthers and Peters! God isn’t scratching His head wondering what He’s going to do about this mess of a world. He has an army He’s raising up to drive back the darkness and make Him known all over the earth. Don’t let your fear steal the greatness God has placed on them. I know it’s hard to imagine them as anything besides our sweet little babies, and we just want to protect them from anything that could ever be hard on them, but they were born for such a time as this.
Just some thoughts from a dad who is rocking his sleeping baby and thinking about what a crazy day it has been in our country.”
We are not overwhelmed by our troubles because we believe in God. Second, we are not overwhelmed by our troubles because we believe in Jesus.
- Read John 14:1
II. WE ARE NOT OVERWHELMED BY OUR TROUBLES BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IN JESUS
In response to their concerns Jesus tells His disciples, “Believe in God, believe also in Me.”
Guys, yall believe in God, believe also in Me. Look, I know ya’ll believe in God, believe also in Me.
The disciples had been with Jesus for more than 3 years by this time. They had every reason in the world to believe in Him. They had seen Him do some amazing things. They had seen Him cast out demons, and walk on water. They had seen Him heal the sick, and stop storms. So, they had seen His power.
They had been with Him when He healed the woman who touched the hem of His garment. They had been with Him when he told them to let the children come to Him, and when he had saved the life of the woman caught in adultery. They had seen Him cast the demon out of the Canaanite woman’s daughter and saw how He dealt with the woman at the well who had been married 4 times and was then living with another man. They had seen Him feed thousands, fearing they would collapse on the way home from weakness, so they had seen His compassion.
They had seen Him heal the daughter of the synagogue leader after folks had said she was dead, and they had seen Him delay for several days before He went and raised Lazarus from the dead, so they had seen His timing.
In just the previous chapter He had washed their feet. They had seen Him grieve over the city of Jerusalem, and had seen Him weep at the grave of Lazarus, so they had seen His love.
Now Jesus tells them, you have seen my power. You have seen my compassion. You have seen my timing and my love. Guys, trust me in this. You may not understand what is going to happen in the days ahead. You may not understand why things are going the way they are. You may not understand why I am going to die, but trust Me, none of this is a surprise to me. Nothing in the days ahead is beyond My ability to deal with. All of this was planned out before the foundation of the world.
Believe in God, believe also in Me.
If He expected them to believe in Him, how much more should He expect us to do the same. My word, we are this side of the resurrection. They thought the world was about to end, but we, we know He was crucified, but we also know He was raised!
*** Somebody say Amen! We know He was crucified, but we also know He was raised!
We know the Devil tried to destroy Him, but He whipped death and the grave!
We know the Devil did everything He could to stop the church, but the fields were watered by the blood of the martyrs and everyplace they scattered Christians another church was started.
We know the Devil used Saul to attack and kill Christians, but Jesus met that wayward man on a road to Damascus and asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And Jesus turned that Christian persecutor into a Christian preacher.
The Roman army crucified my Savior, but God sent missionaries down the very roads those pagans built, and within 300 years, Christianity became the official religion of Rome.
Nations rise and fall. Buildings are constructed and then torn down and replaced. Denominations rise with a missionary vigor, only to lose their fire and are replaced by others. Churches, individual congregations gather together to worship and serve the Lord, only to later disband to be replaced by others.
Political parties start and then are replaced by others.
But through it all, one thing remains true. God is still on the throne, and someday our Savior will return and on that day, we will not be thinking about Donald Trump. On that day we will not be thinking about Joe Biden. On that day we will be thinking about the Name that is above every name! On that day, the Name of Jesus Christ shall ring from horizon to horizon. On that day, the angles in heaven, and all of the starry hosts shall proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. And on that day, every Republican knee shall bow, and every democratic knee shall bow, and every independent knee shall bow, and every communist knee shall bow, and every socialist knee shall bow. On that day, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
I serve a Risen Savior. He’s in the world today! I know that He is living, whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, and just the time I need Him, He’s always near.
He lives, He Lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me, along life’s narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart!
Believe in God, believe also in Me.
Christians are realists. We don’t deny there are troubles in the world. We do not deny there is pain, and suffering, and tears, and heartache in the world, but we are not overwhelmed by them, and we do not allow our hearts to be overwhelmed by our troubles because we believe in God. We are not overwhelmed by our troubles because we believe in Jesus Christ.
Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me.
- Read John 14:1-2
We are not overwhelmed because we believe in God. We are not overwhelmed because we believe in Jesus. We are not overwhelmed because there’s more to life than this.
III. WE ARE NOT OVERWHELMED BY OUR TROUBLES BECAUSE THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS
I must admit, in recent days I have spent, I now realize, too much time fretting over what is going on in the world and especially in our country. I grieve over what I see making place, but my friends, nations rise and nations fall, and as Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes, it’s all vanity, it’s all futility. We serve and vote as Christian citizens, but this is all temporary.
The Bible tells us that one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth. That everything we are building and working on and worrying about now, will one day be destroyed by fire. That’s one reason I don’t worry about global warming, because one day the Lord is really going to heat the place up.
But, Jesus is preparing a place for us. There is a place prepared for us called heaven.
Now notice, Jesus says He is going to prepare a place. Heaven is not a state of mind. It is not some cosmic spiritual condition. It is a real place.
And notice, He says there are many rooms, or many dwelling places, or many mansions, depending on the translation you are reading. But notice, He is preparing each of those places for you individually.
If you were going to prepare a room for your son, you might put things in there like model planes, or pictures of cars, or if he is older perhaps things for hunting or fishing.
If you were going to prepare a place for your daughter, it might have frilly drapes, and a lacey comforter and pillow cases.
If your mother was going to move in with you, you might prepare a room for her with a lot of pictures, to help her revisit those old memories, and maybe some of her favorite books, and maybe a puzzle. But each of those rooms would be individually prepared with the person in mind you were preparing it for, taking his or her likes into consideration.
Jesus says, I my Father’s house are many rooms, many mansions, and I am going to prepare one for you. Oh my goodness. Jesus says, I know you’re coming, I’m getting your room ready for you. Can you imagine?
Now, I don’t know everything that is in that place, and I don’t know everything we will do there, but I do know a lot of things that won’t be there.
There will be no rioting in heaven. There will be no lockdowns in heaven. There will be no pain or suffering in heaven. After the beginning, there will be no tears in heaven, for the Bible tells us that Jesus Himself will wipe away every tear. In heaven, we will never again have to say goodbye.
In heaven we will find our Christian loved ones, our believing friends and family. In heaven there will be a great reunion.
D. L. Moody tells of visiting with one his church members who told him how his thoughts about heaven progressed. The man said, “When I was young, I used to think of heaven as a place with great walls, and massive towers and gates, and domes. I thought of the shining, gleaming streets of gold.” I thought about crowds of faceless angels I did not know. I didn’t think of heaven much or often, but when I did, that’s what I thought of.
Then, my son died. So when I thought of heaven, I still thought of the massive walls, and gates and towers, and the shinning, gleaming streets, and the crowds of faceless angels. But then I thought of 1 face in the crowd I would know. I would see my son there again.
Later, I lost 2 more sons, and then there were 3 faces in the crowd I knew who would greet me. Over the years, the crowd in heaven began to be populated by more and more people I knew, friends, relatives and acquaintances, who had traveled there. I still thought of massive walls, and looming towers and domes and gates. I still remembered the shimmering streets, but for me, heaven became more and more the people I would see there again. And as I got older, I found that I was thinking of heaven more and more.
My friends, heaven is a real place. It is being prepared for you and I by Jesus Himself and in that place we will no longer hurt, we will never again cry, and in that place we will see our loved ones again.
Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, and I go to prepare a place for you.
We are not overwhelmed by our troubles because we believe in God. We are not overwhelmed by our troubles because we believe in Jesus. We are not overwhelmed by our troubles because there is more to life than this. We are not overwhelmed by our troubles because we don’t have time.
IV. WE ARE NOT OVERWHELMED BY OUR TROUBLES BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE TIME
- Read John 14:3
Jesus is coming again. And who is He coming back for? He is coming back for those who know Him. He is coming back for His followers. He is coming back for Christians.
- Read John 14:6
Jesus is the only way to the Father, and He is the only way to salvation and He is the only way to heaven. Therefore, we have a responsibility to sound the alarm, to share the Gospel, to tell people about Jesus Christ, because He is coming again and only those who know Him will escape this world and go to a place prepared for them.
There are 2 destinations, 2 places prepared for after this life. In Matthew 25:41 we read,
> Matthew 25:41 “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!
There are 2 places being prepared for after this life. 1, Jesus tells us in John 14, He is preparing for us personally in heaven. The second, is a place of torment, originally prepared for the Devil and his angels, but now also the destination of those who do not know Jesus Christ.
I’ll admit, there are times when I’d like to just take my family, and we go hide out somewhere in the middle of no where, and tell the world to go away and leave us alone. You ever feel like that?
But, the Lord has not called us to be holy hermits, living only for ourselves. He has called us to be ambassadors. He has called us to represent him. He has called us to go into all the world and to make disciples of every nation.
We don’t have time to sit down and wallow in our troubles and worries. We have work to do. Jesus is coming again and His return has never been closer than it is right now.
We are not descended from fearful men. We come from believers who gave their lives so that we might be saved. We come from believers who burned at the stake so that we might have Bibles in a language we could understand. We come from believers who have braved the swamps and snows and the unknown to carry the gospel to people who had never heard.
I am grateful for them, for their sacrifices, and that because of them you and I might be saved; but we have a responsibility to those who have not yet heard. We need to stand for Christ, stand for what is right, and share the good news.
Conclusion:
*** Just four days following the death of his own son in combat, Marine Lt. General John Kelly eulogized two other sons, in an unforgettable manner.
From Kelly's speech:
Two years ago when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 “The Walking Dead,” and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion in the closing days of their deployment going home very soon, the other just starting its seven-month combat tour.
Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines.
The same broken down ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police, also my men and our allies in the fight against the terrorists in Ramadi, a city until recently the most dangerous city on earth and owned by Al Qaeda. Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a mother and sister who lived with him and he supported as well. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle class white kid from Long Island.
They were from two completely different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines they would never have met each other, or understood that multiple America’s exist simultaneously depending on one’s race, education level, economic status, and where you might have been born. But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and because of this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman.
The mission orders they received from the sergeant squad leader I am sure went something like: “Okay you two clowns, stand this post and let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.” “You clear?” I am also sure Yale and Haerter then rolled their eyes and said in unison something like: “Yes Sergeant,” with just enough attitude that made the point without saying the words, “No kidding sweetheart, we know what we’re doing.” They then relieved two other Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry control point of Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of Ramadi, al Anbar, Iraq.
A few minutes later a large blue truck turned down the alley way—perhaps 60-70 yards in length—and sped its way through the serpentine of concrete jersey walls. The truck stopped just short of where the two were posted and detonated, killing them both catastrophically. Twenty-four brick masonry houses were damaged or destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The truck’s engine came to rest two hundred yards away knocking most of a house down before it stopped.
Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was made of 2,000 pounds of explosives. Two died, and because these two young infantrymen didn’t have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150 of their Iraqi and American brothers-in-arms.
When I read the situation report about the incident a few hours after it happened I called the regimental commander for details as something about this struck me as different. Marines dying or being seriously wounded is commonplace in combat. We expect Marines regardless of rank or MOS to stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if that is what the mission takes. But this just seemed different.
The regimental commander had just returned from the site and he agreed, but reported that there were no American witnesses to the event—just Iraqi police. I figured if there was any chance of finding out what actually happened and then to decorate the two Marines to acknowledge their bravery, I’d have to do it as a combat award that requires two eye-witnesses and we figured the bureaucrats back in Washington would never buy Iraqi statements. If it had any chance at all, it had to come under the signature of a general officer.
I traveled to Ramadi the next day and spoke individually to a half-dozen Iraqi police all of whom told the same story. The blue truck turned down into the alley and immediately sped up as it made its way through the serpentine. They all said, “We knew immediately what was going on as soon as the two Marines began firing.” The Iraqi police then related that some of them also fired, and then to a man, ran for safety just prior to the explosion.
All survived. Many were injured … some seriously. One of the Iraqis elaborated and with tears welling up said, “They’d run like any normal man would to save his life.”
What he didn’t know until then, he said, and what he learned that very instant, was that Marines are not normal. Choking past the emotion he said, “Sir, in the name of God no sane man would have stood there and done what they did.”
“No sane man.”
“They saved us all.”
What we didn’t know at the time, and only learned a couple of days later after I wrote a summary and submitted both Yale and Haerter for posthumous Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras, damaged initially in the blast, recorded some of the suicide attack. It happened exactly as the Iraqis had described it. It took exactly six seconds from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated.
You can watch the last six seconds of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads I supposed it took about a second for the two Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them to do only a few minutes before: “ … let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.”
The two Marines had about five seconds left to live. It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up. By this time the truck was half-way through the barriers and gaining speed the whole time. Here, the recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the normal and rational men they were—some running right past the Marines. They had three seconds left to live.
For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines’ weapons firing non-stop…the truck’s windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tore in to the body of the son-of-a-bitch who is trying to get past them to kill their brothers—American and Iraqi—bedded down in the barracks totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground. If they had been aware, they would have know they were safe … because two Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber.
The recording shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the two Marines. In all of the instantaneous violence Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back. They never even started to step aside. They never even shifted their weight. With their feet spread shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons. They had only one second left to live.
The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their God.
Six seconds.
Not enough time to think about their families, their country, their flag, or about their lives or their deaths, but more than enough time for two very brave young men to do their duty … into eternity. That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight—for you.
THEY LEANED IN.
My friends, now is not the time for us to be overwhelmed by our troubles. We know Who is in charge. We believe in God. We believe in Jesus, and we know there is more to life than this. Let’s lean in and busy with the work the Lord has called us to do.
