DON’T BE A PAIN!
I Chronicles 4:10
S: Evil, temptation and sin
Th: Prayer: A Passion for His Presence
Pr: WE NEED GOD’S HELP IN DEFEATING SIN’S RESULTS.
?: How?
KW: Admonitions
TS: In our final study of the prayer of Jabez, we will find five admonitions to follow that will help us defeat sin’s results.
The _____ admonition to follow that will help us defeat sin’s results is…
I. PRAY (Matthew 6:13)
II. PASS (I Thessalonians 5:22)
III. PERSIST (I Peter 5:18)
IV. PURSUE (Romans 12:9)
V. PERCEIVE (I Corinthians 10:13)
RMBC 27 January 02 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Ask (Paul Harvey story revised)
There is a fictional story about a little four year old boy named Paul whose mother was named Marilyn, who went to a grocery store called Loblaws (you see this was a few years ago). Before they entered the grocery store Paul’s mom said to him, "Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask." She put him up in the cart and he sat in the little child’s seat while she wheeled down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies and he stood up in the seat and being a polite boy said, "Mom, may I please have some chocolate chip cookies?" She said, "I told you not even to ask. You’re not going to get any at all." So he sat back down. They continued down the aisles, but in their search for certain items they ended up back in the cookie aisle. "Mom, may I please have some chocolate chip cookies?" Not wanting to spoil the child, she said, "I told you that you can’t have any. Now sit down please, and be quiet." Finally, as they were approaching the checkout lane, Paul, already being a clever boy, was sensing that this might be his last chance. So just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart and shouted in his loudest voice, "In the name of Jesus, may I please have some chocolate chip cookies?" And everybody round about just laughed. Some even applauded. And, due to the generosity of many of the other shoppers, Paul and his mom left with 15 boxes of chocolate chip cookies.
Remember, this was a fictional story!
Well…just as Paul wanted an answer…
Have you ever just wanted an answer?
ILL Answer (machine answers)
I enjoy the creative messages that often come on the answering machines. Here are some fun examples:
Hello. I’m David’s answering machine. What are you?
Greetings, you have reached the Sixth Sense Detective Agency. We know who you are and what you want, so at the sound of the tone, please hang up.
I can’t come to the phone now because I have amnesia and I feel stupid talking to people I don’t remember. I’d appreciate it if you could help me out by leaving my name and telling me something about myself. Thanks.
Hi. I’m probably home; I’m just avoiding someone I don’t like. Leave me a message, and if I don’t call back, it’s you.
TRANSITION:
When we come to this very short portion of Scripture dealing with the life of Jabez, we find that he was hoping for an answer.
1. Jabez places his heart in God’s hands because He recognizes his dependence (I Chronicles 4:10).
And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.
Jabez hoped for an answer.
And God answered his prayer.
For the last few weeks, we have been giving consideration to this short, but powerful prayer.
And I think there is some powerful reasons why God granted what he requested (they are numbers 2 and 3 in your outline here…).
First…
2. Jabez is determined to not live up to his name (I Chronicles 4:9).
Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain."
Jabez had a name that nobody wants.
A few weeks ago, we noted Jabez has the meaning of “grief.”
We made a point how the other children would have treated him as he grew up.
“Hey, Grief! You are such a pain!”
“Hey, Grief! You are in such a sorry state.”
And the laughter would ensue.
Jabez cries out to God because he does not want to be a pain.
He does not want to be the cause of grief.
Instead…
3. Jabez wanted to be found faithful.
Somewhere along the line, Jabez comes to the realization that there is a price to be paid when evil takes control of a person’s life.
It is a price that is exacted in agony and suffering.
So Jabez sought God’s protection from evil and from causing pain.
He did not want to be wicked.
He did not want to be an inflicter of pain.
Instead, he wanted to be a receiver of God’s blessings with the opportunity to share them.
What we find here, I believe in this prayer of Jabez, is an individual that has a passion for God’s Presence.
He prays to God because he knows that we are hopelessly lost without Him.
And when it comes to evil and sin, we really need help.
4. WE NEED GOD’S HELP IN DEFEATING SIN’S RESULTS.
We need to recognize that evil is something that pursues us everyday.
We live in a culture that tempts us all the time to sin.
And we sometimes fall for it.
We foolishly think we can sin and win, but it is a lie.
So…how do we receive God’s help in these areas?
Well…
5. In our final study of the prayer of Jabez, we will find five admonitions to follow that will help us defeat sin’s results.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first admonition to follow that will help us defeat sin’s results is PRAY (Matthew 6:13).
In what is called the Lord’s Prayer, we find this…
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
We must understand that…
1. When we pray in boldness, we step on Satan’s turf.
When we pray for an enlarging of territory and expanding opportunities, frankly, it ticks the devil off.
If you have never experienced true opposition before, just try something new in ministry and Satan does everything he possibly can to get us to a place where we don’t each other.
He does not want us breaking new ground.
He does not want us expanding.
When this happens, it is time to call on the Lord together.
It is time to pray.
2. We must be reminded that we are not to take on the battle of sin and evil alone.
The prayer of Jabez is so significant at this point.
For when he prays to be kept from evil, he prays for God’s protection.
He does not want to be immersed into wickedness.
But it is more than that.
He also prays that God would restrain him, even defeat him.
He prays this because he does not want to be an instrument that hurts others and brings them grief.
So prayer is the basis of defeating sin, because it is in prayer that we not only demonstrate our dependence, but we depend on God.
We need His help.
II. The second admonition to follow that will help us defeat sin’s results is PASS (I Thessalonians 5:22).
The apostle Paul writes a very simple, but profound exhortation when he tells us that we must pass up on evil opportunities.
He writes…
Avoid every kind of evil.
We have heard the ad campaigns about drugs through the years that said…
1. “Just say no.”
We have the ability to say no when temptation, sin and evil come our way.
We sometimes act like we are helpless, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are not.
ILL Notebook: Temptation (Hee Haw)
You remember the old TV show “Hee Haw.” Doc Campbell is examining a patient who hurt his arm. The man said, "Doc, I broke my arm in two places." To which the doctor replies, "Well then, stay out of them places!”
He’s on to something there.
We can’t keep putting ourselves in the face of temptation and not be affected.
We need to stay out of "them places" that lead us to sin.
2. We are to keep our distance from that which will cause us harm.
We need to partner with the Lord by not putting ourselves in situations that are detrimental to our spiritual growth.
He will help us, but we must be willing partners.
You may be struggling today with certain sins and, as a result, cause pain to your own life and others.
And the reason is is that you keep going back to the place where the sin starts instead of staying away.
Perhaps you need to turn off the TV or the computer.
Perhaps you need to give up establishments where the atmosphere is unpleasing to God.
Perhaps you need to stay away from some people for a while that always seem to lead you down the wrong path.
You see, we usually make a huge spiritual leap forward when we begin to focus less on beating temptation, and more on avoiding it.
Stay out of them places and pass on them.
III. The third admonition to follow that will help us defeat sin’s results is PERSIST (I Peter 5:8-9a).
The apostle Peter tells us…
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…
As we mentioned before…
1. We are actively being sought to fail.
Using the example of a hungry lion, Peter tells us that we must realize we are stalked as prey.
We are being hunted.
Satan is on a lifetime endeavor to mislead and seduce you and me.
He is a crafty enemy and the master deceiver.
He desires us to stumble and sin.
He sets traps for us that are well hidden, exquisitely designed and elegantly disguised.
We need to understand this and recognize that we cannot compete on our own with the forces of evil.
This is why we pray.
And because we pray…
2. We should never see defeat as inevitable.
We can resist.
We resist by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We are to persist in our resisting.
God will give us the ability to recognize the attacks and the traps that Satan is setting.
Defeat is not inevitable.
IV. The fourth admonition to follow that will help us defeat sin’s results is PURSUE (Romans 12:9).
The apostle Paul tells us to pursue good when he says…
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
This means that…
1. We will successfully avoid evil when we seek to do its opposite.
God calls us away from self-satisfaction and to service to others.
You see, there is constantly before us unending opportunity to do good.
God calls us into service because He knows that when our heart is bent on doing good, we spend less time feeding our own desires.
So…
2. We must move our attention away from ourselves and to the good of others.
The application of this point is true for us both on the individual and corporate levels.
Let me speak about this in terms of our church body.
I believe God is calling us to be a God-glorifying, Bible- teaching and disciple-making church in this community.
I believe that has always been our calling.
And for over 175 years we have had mixed and varying success in accomplishing that.
But let us remember that with success, pride often grows.
This is the order of the prayer of Jabez.
First, there is the enlarging of territory—success.
Then, there is the appearance of sin and evil.
It happens because when God blesses us, we tend to think that we had something to do with it, and we become prideful and comfortable.
God is not calling us to be comfortable with the way we have always done things.
What we have done for the last 175 years is great.
It does not, however, guarantee our future.
For example, have you ever noticed that you can’t drive a car by looking backwards the whole time?
Not for long, anyway…
We need to be wary of the enemy’s attempt to keep us from going forward.
He always wants us to take our focus off the task at hand.
Even as Christians, we are susceptible to his deception.
He makes focus on the success of the past.
He makes us think that no one in leadership cares about our ministry.
He makes us distracted on how we feel.
He paralyzes us into thinking that we are left out of the loop.
Yes, even I can get caught sitting in my office thinking that no one understands (you see, even I am susceptible).
And when this happens, instead of pointing fingers and talking about our rights, it is time to open the book.
It is time to pray.
It is time to hate what is evil and cling to what is good.
It is time to love one another as Jesus has loved us.
It is time to stop judging the thoughts and intentions of others, and let God judge the thoughts and intentions of our own heart.
It is time to pursue good and leave the devil at the doorstep as a failure.
We are not letting him in…
V. The fifth admonition to follow that will help us defeat sin’s results is PERCEIVE (I Corinthians 10:13).
The apostle Paul tells us to perceive the way out…
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
ILL Sandra Gershenfeld
Sandra Gershenfeld’s husband was trying to lose weight, but he had a tendency to grab sweets when he was bored. So the two of them devised a plan that whenever he was tempted to cheat on his diet, he was to think of Sandra and how proud she was of him. And it seemed to be working. However, one night Sandra overheard her husband tell friends, “Whenever I get hungry, I think about Sandra and immediately lose my appetite.”
Well, I guess that’s one way to handle temptation, although I don’t think that was the exact application she had in mind.
But we are to recognize that…
1. We are unable to avoid all temptation.
It will come on us unexpectedly.
And when it does come, we have a decision to make.
Will we give in to it, or not?
ILL Notebook: Temptation (Orben quote)
Robert Orben has said:
Many people pray to be delivered from temptation, but they still want to “keep in touch.”
ILL Notebook: Temptation (“Autobiography…”)
Chapter I
I walked down the street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost…I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I forgot about it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in…It’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I find my way out (I know the way now).
Chapter IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter V
I walk down another street.
God will give us a way out, and…
2. We are to stand on the promise that there is a way out.
God does not want us staying where we don’t belong.
And we need to believe the promise.
There is a way out.
It may take effort to find the way out.
But there is a way.
We do not have to live what Jabez feared.
We do not have to wallow in wickedness.
We do not have to be a pain to others.
APPLICATION:
The prayer of Jabez is meant to point us to the New Testament concept of the abundant life.
The Lord wants us to live a glorious life, life to the full...a life of greater influence.
Do you want God’s best?
I believe the prayer of Jabez leads the way in this.
Jabez shows us how we get God’s best.
It is found in these principles…
First….
1. Bless me (“Oh, that You would bless me indeed…”).
We need God’s blessing on our lives.
Second…
2. Expand my ministry (“…and enlarge my territory…”).
We need to go to the territory that God blesses us with.
We need to take on the opportunities He is giving us.
Third…
3. Stay with me (“…that Your hand would be with me…”).
We are to never forget our constant dependence on God.
We need His guiding hand every step of the way.
And finally…
4. Take evil away (“…and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!”).
Please remember that our study of this prayer is not meant to make us think that there is some secret formula here.
It is not just pray this prayer for thirty days, and you will get everything that you want.
But God certainly wants to bless us with all the blessings He desires to give us.
And we can be free from the same sin that concerned Jabez because of grace.
It is because of Jesus that we have access to God.
Let us not forget that.
We can be faithful as Jabez because Jesus was faithful.
What he looked forward to, we look back to, and celebrate.
And as a result, sin does not master us.
We are not the servants of Satan, rather we serve a loving and glorious God, whose guiding hand ever wants to be on us.
Let’s praise Him together for His goodness!
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Don’t be a pain…be dependent on God to protect you from evil and temptation; and realize as the unexpected comes, He provides a way out; we do not have to give into sin…ever.
Be a person of prayer…realize that God desires to bless you; He desires to give you ministry opportunity; He desires to guide you every step of the way.
Be passionately for God…don’t look to yourself for answers, go to God; go to the One who knows what is best for the creation He has designed and loves.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
