God’s cure for Hiccups..
Today I would like to give a sermon on how God can cure Hiccups.
Drink a glass of water - have someone creep up behind you and burst a paper bag -
Stand on your head and drink a glass of water - there must be a book somewhere called a thousand and one cures for hiccups.
All kinds of hiccups happen in life - the bank balance is in debit and you thought it was in credit - whoops that’s a pretty big hiccup.
You were visiting your rich Aunt the one you were planning to receive a inheritence from and all goes well until you back over her cat in the drive.
Life has lots of hiccups. .
Today I would like to suggest that John chapter 3 and verse 16 is a great cure for lifes hiccups.
It is true that life
Moses struck many major hiccups when he led the people of Israel through the desert.
One such time you can read about in Numbers chapter 21 verses 4 - 9
They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!
Then the Lord sent venemous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the lord and against you. Pray that the lord will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to moses, "Make a snake and put it on a pole, anyone bitten can look at it and live. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake he lived.
This was a major hiccup for the people of Israel. We read - Many Israelites died.
That is a big hiccup.
What caused it - the people were complaining against God and against Moses.
The complaint against their leaders and against God are common enough ones in the Christian church today.
Constantly I hear complaints about christian leaders and very often I hear complaints about God.
God has ordained that the church has leaders - the church is not some kind of leaderless mob that rushes around doing whatever it likes like a headless hen.
God has appointed leadership - sometimes that leadership is good - like the apostles were in Jerusalem -
Sometimes it is not so good..
There are plenty examples of both in the scriptures.
Hebrews 13 verse 17 says - obey your leaders and submit to their authority., They keep watch over you as men who must give account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Leadership must give account to God of how it has carried out it’s responsibility.
All of us are under leadership - we must obey the leadership that God has put over us.
The only exception to that would be except when what they ask is in clear contridiction to the word of God.
Getting back to Moses - the people were complaining because they had caused their own frustration -
They said:-
"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!
But the truth is in Numbers chapter 14 the people had missed God’s opportunity to enter into the promised land. God had opened the door up for the people to take possesion of the land but they had failed to trust Him - as a result they wandered in the desert for 40 years - What they blamed Moses and God for was really their own doing.
It is little wonder then that God allowed snakes to come into their midst and wrought destruction.
How many of lifes situations are like this?
Our misery is caused by our failure to take the ground God has given us and as a result we blame whoever or whatever is around.
I once worked with a young man who seemed to have the ball at his feet.
He was musically talented - had a lovely wife and family and a good job.
Then one day the police arrived at work and took this man from his desk in his business suit off to prison.
He was booked on serious drug charges which meant much of what he had was under threat -
He could complain about his situation but at the end of the day there was only one person to blame.
Himself.
In such a situation - when life has hit a major hiccup God has an answer -
When that young man was locked up you can be sure he felt that his life was ruined.
But not so - for john 3 verse 16 says -
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.
By confessing his sin to God and by depending on the grace that has been won by Jesus - and then by turning from his sins that young man would be able to come into complete cleansing and forgiveness.
I was talking to the chaplain at the prison last week and he talked of praying for an inmate in that position and the chaplain said he felt all his old life simply lift off him.
An image of that is seen in the account of Moses and the bronze snake - when the people compained about God and Moses when it really was their own fault they came under a curse - a kind of plague if you like - but then when they looked at the cross they were healed -
In John chapter 3 and verse 14 - Jesus explaining this to Nicodemus says - just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert so the son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
The first thing we must ask if we strike a hiccup in life then is to ask the question - has some action of mine bought this upon me?
If it has we need to look to the cross where the cure for the hiccups comes from.
The second problem that we might encounter is the situation that is not bought about by our own doing - Job was in this situation. His problems came as a result of the devil’s cowardly ways and because God in some mysterious way allowed the situation to occur.
When this happens someone might say - "It’s not fair"- for it is indeed not fair - nor is it just.
In such a situation there is no point in tracing the cause.
For the answer in some profound way lies with God.
Think for a moment if you will of the apostle Paul who says -
I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger of my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles;; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have laboured and toiled and have gone without sleep; I have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
Paul could well have felt agrieved and asked why -
As a rather stark poster used to say - "There is no reason it is just policy."
But instead Paul boasts of his weeknesses because as he goes on to say in 2 corinthians chapter 12 - But he (Jesus) said. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weekness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
The truth is we hit hiccups in life that are not our own fault.
What is the practical thing to do in such circumstances.
We need to get this right because otherwise our hearts will be inclined to turn to bitterness or despair.
The key to it all is tied up with God’s grace.
My grace says Paul is made perfect in weekness.
In the world we often view the triumph of power and control and success.
But Paul turns the way of the world upside down when he says My Grace is made perfect in weekness.
Why do so few people fail to fully comprehend the gospel?
Because they have not experienced suffering - weekness and powerlessness.
It may be that they have the gospel but it is in the place of vulnerability that the fullness of what God is saying in verses like John chapter 3 verse 16 is really understood.
Thomas Hauker died for his faith in England by a cruel death - burning at the stake.
"Thomas,’ his friend lowered his voice so as not to be heard by the guard. "I have to ask you this favour. I need to know if what the others say about god is true. Tomorrow when they burn you at the stake, if the pain is tolerablew and your mind is still at peace, lift your hands above your head. Do it right before you die. Thomas I have to know.
Thomas hauker whispered to his friend, "I will."
The next morning Hauker was nbound to the stake and the fire was lit. The fire burned a long time. But hauker remained motionless. His skin was burned to a crisp and his fingers were gone. Everyone watching supposed he was dead. Suddenly miraculously, Hauker lifted his hands, still on fire, over his head. He reached them to the living God, and then, with great rejoicing, clapped them together three times.
The people there broke into shouts of praise and applause.
Haukers friend had his answer.
What are you going to do when the tide of life overwhelms you - Grow in his grace through the circumstances - or grow away from God.
I guess another scripture that you need to cling to in such circumstances is:-
God makes all things work together for good for those who love him.
The third judder bar we can face is this one that can easily rob us of both our peace and our salvation.
Somebody - and it could be anybody - a friend - a neighbour - a sister a brother a parent - does us a bad turn.
Jesus was in this position - not only did judas betray him - but his disciples deserted him and peter denied him.
This is a huge judder bar.
But John 3 16 can easily meet this judder bar head on. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.
Whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish.
We don’t necessarily have the grace to forgive the bad turn - not on our own but God gives us grace the very thing we need for the circumstances we are in as a result of our enemies actions.
We need to be so bathed in God’s grace that we are able to release it to the one who hurt us.
The antidote for superiority and self righteousness is realising how sinful we ourselves are.
adolf eichman was one of the worst Holocaust masterminds. A small man called Yehiel Dinur who miraculously escaped death in Auschwitz was called to give evidence at eichmann’s trial.
In the courtroom - suddenly overcome - Yehiel Dinur began to sob, collapsing to the floor, Was he overcome by hatred - by the horrifying memories - by the evil incarnate in eichmanns face?
No as he explained later in an interview, it was because eichmann was an ordinary man just like anyone else. And in that one instance Dinur came to the stunning realisation that sin and evil are the human condition. "I was afraid about myself." Dinur said. "I saw that I am capable to do this - - - exactly like he."
Dinurs shocking conclussion - Eichmann is in all of us.
Jesus said - "The things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man - these evil things proceed from within." Mark 7 - 15,23.
For us to deal with the hiccups that other people put into our lives we need to learn the kind of forgiveness that we expect from Jesus.
There is a scriptural call to forgive as god has forgiven us.
I began by saying that John chapter 3 verse 16 is a great cure for the Hiccups.
We have applied that in three ways.
1. The first thing we must ask if we strike a hiccup in life is to ask the question - has some action of mine bought this upon me?
If it has we need to look to the cross where the cure for the hiccups comes from.
We need to apply the salve of John chapter 3 verse 16 to our own lives.
2. We may discover that the circumstances we face may not be any fault of our own. We may be in the position of Job. The truth is we hit hiccups in life that are not our own fault.
What is the practical thing to do in such circumstances.
The answer is to call out to God and to rest in his grace.
To almost celebrate our circumstances because as Jesus says
My Grace is made perfect in weekness.
3.. For us to deal with the hiccups that other people put into our lives we need to learn the kind of forgiveness that we expect from Jesus.
Jesus says in Luke chapter 6 and verse 37 - Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Finally - and particuarily as we come to communion this morning - can I encourage you to own the grace that john chapter 3 and verse 16 points to.
Jesus died for our sins -
We do need a saviour -
If you don’t nothing can be done.
Let us join together this morning and praying for God’s grace to be over our lives so that after this life is done we don’t have to face the Hiccup of Judgement.
Prayer.
feel free to comment
jgullick@xtra.co.nz
