How To Face Life’s Challenges Part I
NLF 3/4/2001 Psalm 102:1-17 Philippians 2:1-11 Matthew 5:1-10
Imagine being on a football team, and at the end of the first quarter your team is behind 21 to nothing. At half-time you are down 28 to 7. Now you know that whoever is ahead at the end of the game is going to win. What keeps you from quitting the game, and simply going home at the end of the first half. After all, you’re losing pretty badly and it’s going to be a hard challenge.
Most good athletes do not go in with the attitude, this game is over. We’re going to get killed. No, your best athletes go into the locker room expecting the coach to say, "here are the adjustments we need to make in order to overcome what they are doing." Many a team that went into the locker room behind at half time, marched off victoriously at the end of the game. Their confidence in their coach and their willingness to execute their plays led to victory
Life is always going to present us with situations which will put us behind in our plans for the present and the future. There will be many times when things will not go our way. What do we then? It’s in these moments that we find out who we truly are on the inside. Have you ever been surprised by something you did or said, that you thought you would never have done or said? When we face life’s challenges, there are always ultimately only two ways to handle them. We will either handle them the way we want to handle them, or the way God wants us to handle them.
God is like the coach who takes the team in at half-time and says look, I know you’re behind, but here are some adjustments you can make to begin to turn this thing around. What would happen if during the coach’s talk, the wide receiver said, "the real problem is the quarterback is not throwing the ball to me enough." And the fullback, said, "no what he needs is to give me the ball more often." Now you know that team is in for some serious problems come the second half of the game. Far to often that’s how we choose to face challenges in life. Have you ever said, "Well God I know you said, or the bible says, but….
Jesus loves us all so much. The good dreams we have for our familes, our marriages, our jobs, our education, and our roles in life, Jesus shares with us. Jesus is wants us to all be successful in facing the challenges of life. He therefore provides us with the direction and the rules we are going to need to make it happen. Now when some of us here the word rules or commandments, we immediately think, uh-oh here’s something to keep me from having fun.
Think for a moment if a group of people got together for a game but each one was playing by his or her own rules. You’d get something like this. The batter hit the ball and headed toward first base, as the shortstop went to catch the ball, a linebacker talked him from behind causing him to fumble the ball. Another player picked up the ball and ran toward the goal line, but he stopped and passed the ball forward to the player under the basket who went up to dunk the ball, but the goalie blocked the shot and kicked the ball back out to the center field where it was caught and that ended the first inning of the game. Nobody would know what was going on, and nobody would be happy with the results.
One day Jesus looked at a group of people following him who simply wanted to be happy and somewhat successful in life. Just like us they had heard, the key to being successful in life is to look out for number one and let everybody know you’re you in charge. We all look forward on some level to being "da man" or "da woman". We glamorize the super stars and like to look at the programs featuring the rich and famous. After all there is where true happiness seems to be found.
Is it really. Those of you who have been married for five years or more, you have done something that many with millions of dollars have been unable to do. Those of you who have kids and you still speak to each other with love and kindness each day, you’ve done something that many of the rich and famous have been unable to do. Those of you who have consistently said no to drugs and sexual immorality, you’ve done something that many of the rich, the famous, and the powerful have been unable to do. Finding joy in life that counts is not based on how rich, famous, or powerful you are.
Jesus lets us know , to really enjoy life and to overcome its challenges, we have to have a different set of rules. Rules that are so different that people will think, "you’re crazy that will never work." How many of you know that if you’re going to follow God, somebody needs to think you’re a little off the wall every now and then? If we accept the new values Jesus is going to give to us, we can bring new life into our lives and into our familes.
We are going to look at the text in Matthew chapter 5 which is often called the sermon on the mount. We will be doing a series of messages from this passage in Matthew. We find that as the crowds were seen by Jesus. Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them.
First I want you to notice that the sermon on the mount was not for the crowd. It was for those disciples of Christ who came forward to hear what Jesus had to say. Now the disciples here are more than just the 12, because Jesus has not yet chosen the twelve disciples Now imagine with me for a moment. It’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the breeze is just right. Jesus finds a place to sit down on the mountain, maybe sitting on a rock. Some of the disciples are sitting around him, others are standing up, waiting to hear what Jesus has to say.
The moment Jesus says, "Blessed" everybody is waiting to hear who is going to be blessed. The term blessed means happy, fortunate and well off. And Jesus goes forward, with blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Some of the disciples probably were ready to get up and leave right after he said blessed are the poor. You see the term Jesus uses for poor is a very strong one. It’s not just somebody struggling to make ends meet, but rather someone who is on their knees begging for a handout.
Jesus is saying well off and happy is the person who is begging for a handout spiritually. The first step in overcoming the challenges we face in life is the recognition, "I am not God " and I need some help. Happy is the person who recognizes, I need God in my life. What a tremendous pressure that takes off us from having to do it all ourselves. It also gives us permission to accept that we are not perfect people. We do not go to God saying, "Lord look at all these wonderful things I’ve done over the years. Am I good enough now for your to accept me." We will never be good enough for God to accept us based on what we have done.
The person who God welcomes is the person who has not only blown it, but blown it with no hope of making it right. When we file spiritual bankruptcy and declare, Lord I have nothing, will you help me, that’s when we discover what grace is all about. It does not matter what we were previously, when it comes to the Kingdom of God what matters is what it is we are going to be. Sure we were all this and that, but God let us know we did not have to stay what we were.
Some of us carry around some terrible secrets that make us think we cannot come to God. God is saying, get rid of that pride you have that think you can do something to override my love for you. My love is far greater than any sin, you may have committed or had committed against you. The kingdom of God is received only by those who know they do not deserve it and cannot earn it. Jesus is saying, "it’s a blessing in life to know even though you were messed up, God is still there for you." Your score may have been 56 to nothing at half time, but your Heavenly Coach still had some adjustments He could make in you to bring you forth as a winner.
The opposite of being poor in spirit is being full of self. I can do it on my own. I control my destiny. I’m in charge of my life. It’s my life I’ll live it like I want to and be happy. A rich spirit is nothing more than a person filled with pride when it comes to spiritual matters. They know they are right with God whether they change their lifestyle or not because God knows their hearts. Our problem is that God does know our hearts. He tells us that all of them stink with pride. We can boast of many things, yet the reality is we are the most frail of creatures.
Do you recognize there is a virus outside this church that’s so small that we cannot even see it, but if it enters our body, all our boasting and confidence about what we can do by ourselves is out of the window. Just because we think, we accomplished something by ourselves, does not mean that God’s hands of mercy was not involved. You see God is at work in all of us to bring us to a knowledge of Him, some of us simply will not arrive at the destination point God had. That’s when we will recognize just how spiritually bankrupt we were all along. The Bible teaches, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. How poor in spirit are you today?
It’s going to have an affect on how well you’re getting along with your wife, your husband, your children, your parents, your teachers and your friends. A poor spirit causes us to be a little more accepting of others, because we know of what a task it was for God to accept us. When we receive the kingdom of heaven, we start living by a new set of rules. How much a role does pride play in some of the challenges we are facing in life today? We would like to have a better relationship with so and so, but we’ve got our pride to think about. Pride keeps us at times from saying even the smallest of compliments, lest we expose ourselves to rejection.
Kingdom living is a reward of recognizing one’s spiritual bankruptcy. We have been released from debts we could not pay, to enable us to start living our lives again with a different attitude about life. Kingdom living is a realm of living, where what Jesus wants is even more important to me than what I may want. It’s a place where we discover my joy in life is far more dependent on me receiving God’s grace, than on me receiving my way. It’s a place were we can trust God to give us the best He has for us, without any scheming and conniving on our part.
Jesus goes on in verse four and declares, "blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted." Once again Jesus is sending us into an activity that we would rather not go into even though we desire the outcome of what is offered. If only Jesus had of said, "blessed are those who are popular for they shall always have people to comfort them." As a matter of fact, we believe that when the opposite is true. One of the problems superstars face, is that they have no one to truly comfort them, because they do not know who they can trust.
We mourn or we cry greatly, when we recognize there is nothing we can do to change this situation. Someone we love very dearly may have died. We may have hurt someone we loved very badly by our actions, and cannot undue the pain we caused. We may have seen a situation which brought great pain and suffering to many. We may have blown our Christian witness and brought shame on the cause of Christ. We may have to a realization of just how much our sin does affect the heart of God. This word mourn means to have a broken heart over something. We need some help from somewhere else.
It a blessing to be able to have a broken heart when facing life’s challenges, because it is demonstration of one’s ability to love and care for others as well as to love God. When we mourn over the right things, God cries with us. Jesus cried with Mary and Martha over the death of their brother. He cried over the people of Jerusalem. He cried out to God when the sins of the world were upon Him and He was separated from the Father.
Sometimes we think the people who never let anything get to them are the strong role models we should have. I wonder how many people have had heart attacks from the stress of not knowing how to have a broken heart. They’ve just gone through life trying to be tough. Pride tells them, don’t you break down and make a fool of yourself. Don’t let others see you not having it altogether. You be strong. Friends if Jesus could cry and be strong, then surely it must be okay for the rest of us.
The broken heart is the kind of heart God takes delight in mending. Psalms 51:17 tells us that God will never despise a broken and contrite hearts. Those who truly know the comfort of God, are those who have gone through some pain, some loss, and some suffering in their lives. It’s one thing to say, "I have heard about what the Lord can do," but it is something all together different when you can say, "let me tell you how the Lord brought me through this challenge in my life.
Part of our problem in the body of Christ is that we have forgotten the part of mourning that goes with sinning and confession. Too often we simply say, and God forgive me of whatever sins I may have committed today and think we have repented. Let us come back to a place in which we are willing to examine our lives in a way that leads to change. Let’s get specific with God so that we can experience the life God has for us.
Have you ever watched a TV program that was worthless and bent on changing your values from Christ? Have you ever repented of it and spelled it out to God. You think twice before you invest yourself in that program again when you take this route. One of the signs of a growing believer is that sin bothers us. Not in the sense of being better than anyone us. But in the sense of recognizing how our own sin displeases the heart of God. Jesus is saying to us, blessed are you when you cry because you know your behavior was not pleasing in the eyes of God.
Life’s challenges are coming our way. Jesus is preparing us to have the appropriate attitudes to face them in a victorious fashion. How poor in spirit will we be willing to be this week? How willing will we be to mourn this week. God will be watching us, to see if we truly want joy in our lives or if we simply want to get our own way.
6. A Worthless TV Program
7. Specific Repentance Brings Change
8. Growth Sign--I Bother Me.
9. Challenges Are Coming---Jesus Prepares
10. Will Today Make A Difference
11. God Is Watching.
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick
How To Face Life’s Challenges Part I
NLF 3/4/2001 Ps. 102:1-17 Philip. 2:1-11 Matt 5:1-4
A. Being Behind Does Not Mean It’s Over
1. Football Team, 21-0, 28-7, Halftime
2. Why Continue The Game---
3. Attitudes Of Athletes--Role Of Coach
4. The Losers Who Won
5. Life Puts Us Behind--Things Not Our Way
6. Ultimately Two Ways To Handle Challenges
7. Is God Really A Coach?
8. Two Much Advice WR & FB
9. Well I Know God, But
B. Jesus Really Does Love Us
1. Shares Our Dreams For Families, Homes Etc
2. Provides Us With Direction And Rules
3. Rules Take Away The Fun In Life
4. The BaseFootSoccbasket Game
5. A Lot Of Unhappy Folk
C. Jesus And The Crowd
1. The Desire To Be Happy And Succesful
2. Key--Money & Power Da’ Man , Da Woman
3. The Rich And The Famous
4. Five Years Of Marriage, Family Love
5. The Ability To Say No To…..
6. More than The Rich And Famous
D. Jesus And The Rules
1. Radical Rules
2. You Must Be Crazy
3. Say What You Want, We Want New Life
E. Jesus Preaches The Sermon On The Mount
1. Matthew 5:1 --Jesus Goes To The Mountain
2. Message For The Disciples Not The 12
3. The Mountain, The Day, The Rock
4. Everybody Take Their Places
F. Blessed Are The
1. The Moment Of Suspense
2. Happy, Fortunate, Well Off
3. The Poor In Spirit----
4. Poor--Excuse Me For A Moment
5. Poor--Strong Term--Beggar On Knees
6. First Step--I Am Not God--help
7. No Need To Offer My Good Deeds
9. Spiritual Bankrupts --Meet God
10. My Secrets--Me Unworthy--Pride
11. God-s Love Is Far Greater Than 56-0
12. The Heavenly Coach
G. Not Poor In Spirit, Then Rick In Self
1. I Do, I Can, I Control, I Will, I
2. It’s My Life, I’ll do
3. Rich Spirit--Pride In Spiritual Matters
4. Behavior? But God Knows My Heart
5. Our Frailty--Just One Virus
6. I Did---But God Was At Work
7. Eventually Every Knee & Tongue
H. How Poor Are We Today
1. A Poor Spirit Affects A Home, School, Life
2. Becoming More Accepting
3. When Pride Keeps Us From Joy
4. Kingdom Living Is A Reward
5. Released From Debts
6. Realm Where The Wants Of Jesus
7. God’s Grace Compared To My Way
8. Place Of Trusting God For The Best
I. Blessed Are They Who Mourn For They Shall
Be Comforted
1. Sending Us Into An Activity We Say No
2. Blessed Are The Popular
3. Superstars Lack The Comfort
H. We Mourn When We Cannot Change
1. Death Of Loved One, Hurt By Us
2. Human Tragedy, Blown Christian Witness
3. How Our Sin Affects The Heart Of God
4. Mourn--To Have A Broken Heart
5. Broken Heart Need To Face Challenges
6. Ability To Love Others--Love God
7. Jesus Mourn--Sisters--Sins Of world
8. The Strong Are Not The Models
9. Tough, Pride, Be Strong
10. What About Jesus
I. God’s Vies Of The Broken Heart
1. Psalm 51:17--Will Never Despise
2. Testimony Of Others Compared To Self
3. Forgotten That Mourning, Confession, Sin
4. Blanket Repentance Not Repentance
5. Examining Our Hearts For True Repentance
