As I was headed to Brookhaven the other day to do my radio show, I was listening to the station and as the anchor was either coming out of a break or into a break, his bumper music really bothered me. It was a song by Jelly Roll, yea don’t look him up, I did and was not impressed. But back to the part of the song that the talk show host used, it went like this: I only talk to God when I need a favor / And I only pray when I ain't got a prayer / So, who the hell am I, who the hell am I / To expect a Savior o-o-oh / If I only talk to God when I need a favor / But God I need a favor / Amen... Amen,"
Wow. But truth be told that describes a lot of us when it comes to our relationship with God. We would do well to remember this spiritual truth from God’s word. In fact, it is our scripture text this morning and it come from Matthew 7:21-23. Again, we will look at the Gospel of Matthew 7:21-23, and I hope you notice that this is Jesus talking here. Again, our text comes from Matthew 7:21-23, here is what we read:
(slide 3) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
I wonder if you have ever had anyone ask you something like this? Do you want the good news or the bad news first?
Today I am going to make that decision for you. First, the bad news.
You and I and every last human being on this earth are damaged goods. We’re bent out of shape by sin. We’re guilty of everything from minor missteps to major crimes.
We’re in desperate need of forgiveness and a fresh start. But that’s not the half of it. The bad news keeps coming. Selfishness, injustice, hatred, indifference, violence and more are all around us.
It all cracks the foundations of our society and sadly it even sets us against each other and that includes right here in the church. And if you don’t believe that then why are there church splits, how many people do you know that are no longer here because they got mad about something or mad at someone. The entire earth suffers under the weight of our greed and pride and wars.
And we haven’t even begun to talk about the spiritual forces of evil—principalities and powers, the ones who oppose everything good. So, the problem is bigger than your sinfulness or mine. It is so much bigger. And if we look at it all long and hard, it can seem hopeless.
(slide 3) And that my friends is a big problem. But you know what our God is bigger. Thankfully He offers us a way home, a way back to Him. We may think we have big problems, but He has bigger solutions. That is why the apostle Paul writes this to the church at Rome in Romans 8:21: because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
That’s what makes the news of the kingdom of God so good. The kingdom is God’s salvation for a broken, twisted, suffering world. In the kingdom there will be no more war.
War that ends lives and scars them; war that levels cities and poisons the ground. In the kingdom there will be justice for discarded communities and reconciliation at every level. One day the kingdom will be a new creation, aflame with the glory and goodness of God. And the news will always be good.
I started this message with the lyrics from a Jelly Roll song, one that we should run away from. If we only talk to God when were in trouble, do we really know Him, do we really trust Him? The obvious answer is no.
But since we used one secular song let’s consider another. It’s the George Straight song “a fathers love”.
As it starts out you hear a young boy or man worried about what his father is going to do him for fighting, only to get home and have his father take him in his lap and love him. And then as he dies and gets to heaven he hears those words again, let me tell you about a father's love.
That my brothers and sisters is the good news. We have a father who does love us who wants to hear from us, who wants to spend time with us.
He is not a mean-spirited father, He is not an abusive father, His only addiction is His love for us. In our Heavenly Fathers love for us there is no condemnation, if we know Jesus, if we have called Him lord and Savior.
That first song I mentioned this morning that says to God I need a favor, doesn’t understand that the favor has already been given. It was given to us when Jesus left heaven and came here to earth. When he walked and faced temptation just as you and I do every day. It was granted when He said yes to the cross.
I want to end early but not so that you can get home early. I want to invite you to the alter this morning.
What big problem are you facing, what is it that you have been holding onto, that you need to let go of? Now listen to me and listen close. Don’t worry about what someone will think of you for coming down. If you truly believe that God is bigger than your problems than now is the time to prove it. Now is the time to bring them to Him and lay then down at His feet. Because there really is something about a father's love, and it’s a love like no other.
