OPEN: THE SINKING SODA Heno Head’s Simple Science Object Talks
1. Fill a pitcher about 2/3 full of water (you can also use a large bowl or aquarium).
2. Set a can of regular soda in one of the pitchers. It will sink to the bottom. If it doesn’t sink, tilt it to release any air bubbles caught beneath can.
3. Place the can of diet soda in the other pitcher. It will float to the top.
Today, I have 2 pitchers of water. And I have two soft drinks, a regular, and a diet. I’m going to put the regular one in this pitcher (it sinks). Now, let’s put the diet soft drink in the other pitcher (it floats). What makes the difference? (pull a packet of sugar from your pocket) This little bag of sugar. That’s how much sugar is in the regular soda. The diet doesn’t have any.
It’s the sugar that causes the can to sink.
It doesn’t take much… but when it’s present it can weigh down the whole can.
APPLY: In the Gospels, we’re told of a night when Jesus’ disciples are out on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a terrible storm. All of sudden, they see someone walking towards them on the water. At first they think it is a ghost and they cry out in fear – not realizing it was Jesus who walking on the water.
Matthew 14 tells us that Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Matthew 14:28-32
What caused Peter to sink? (Doubt)
Just like the sugar caused the can of pop to sink, so also, doubt can cause us to sink and struggle in our faith.
It doesn’t take much, but when it’s present doubt can drag you down and take the joy out of your faith.
I. Today, we’re going to talk about “doubt”
In Genesis 16 we’re introduced to a woman who’s struggling with doubt and (I’ll tell you) it’s not a pretty sight.
In previous chapter (Gen. 15) we’re told that God has just reassured Abram that he will have a son. Now Abram’s come home and he’s all excited. You can just picture him retelling the whole story to wife expecting her to be as excited as he. But she’s having no part of it.
In fact, I can almost sense the fury in her voice as she tells Abram what she thinks of this whole thing.
Look again with me at Genesis 16: 2 “… so she said to Abram, ‘The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.’ Abram agreed to what Sarai said.”
This has got to be one angry woman.
She’s so mad she lets loose on God declaring “the LORD has kept me from having children.”
And she gives Abraham a direct order: “Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her”
Now, remember - Abraham has just come from a private audience with God.
He’s just seen God do miraculous things, and he’s heard God promise him he will receive the desire of his heart.
But now, here’s Sarah cutting loose on him… and he forgets allll about God. In fact, he never says another word about God.
You can almost hear him as he meekly says “yes dear” “whatever you say dear” “… is that her tent over there? well I’ll just go on over there and do what you want dear.”
ILLUS: Abraham’s behavior kind of reminds of a quote by Bill Cosby:
“I am not the boss of my house. I don’t know how I lost it. I don’t know when I lost it.
In fact, I don’t think I ever had it….”
Why does Sarah behave like this? Why would she be so angry with God and so belligerent toward her husband?
Why? Because she is one frustrated woman.
As far as we know, God’s never spoken to her. God only talks to this silly husband of hers.
She keeps hearing - God’s going to do this, God’s going to do that. AND, in the meantime, she’s over 90 years old and she STILL has no children.
Up til now, she’s been willing to go along with all this. But, doubt has set in and its got ahold of her.
She’s no longer willing to believe that she will EVER have a child
She’s no longer willing to meekly accept the idea that this God of her husband’s is ever going to come thru on His promise.
She is FED UP
She’s lost her faith in her husband
She’s lost her faith in her husband’s God
And she now , she has allowed doubt to rule in her life.
II. Doubt had a hold of Sarai and it terrible things to her
Now, initially, every thing works out the way she wants it to
· Abraham does what she wants done
· Hagar gets pregnant
· A baby is born… and it’s a baby boy
· Abraham will have a male offspring
You couldn’t ask for anything to go smoother…
But then… things don’t go SO smoothly
Hagar (her trusted and faithful servant) begins to think to herself:
“You know… I’m pregnant… Sarai isn’t…”
“I deserve to be treated like a princess here… not like a slave”
So, she begins to say things around Sarah that are not quite respectful. In fact, maybe she begins to get a little catty. In fact, maybe she starts getting romantic with Abraham… reaching out for his hand once in a while, when she doesn’t think Sarah is looking.
I don’t know. All I do know is that whatever Hagar was doing, scripture says “she began to despise her mistress”
How does Sarai respond to her problem? Well, take a look with at Genesis 16:5-6
“Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.’
‘Your servant is in your hands,’ Abram said. ‘Do with her whatever you think best.’ Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.’”
Now consider the consequences that doubt has brought into Sarah’s life:
1. She sows discord in her family (harassing Abraham into sleeping with Hagar)
2. Her anger causes her to make false accusations against people she loves (It’s your fault).
3. She creates problems in her relationships (Hagar’s haughtiness)
4. And she now her anger is so out of control that she sins against Hagar, mistreating her and drives her away
Sarah’s doubt began because she was unhappy.
But then, the results of her doubt drove her even deeper into unhappiness… and she ends up being a person who’s not very nice to be around.
ILLUS: Billy Sunday once said:
“If there is no joy in your Christianity, there’s a leak somewhere in your faith.” And he was right.
Doubt puts a leak in your faith.
Doubt ultimately robs you of your joy
Like that sugar in the can of pop… doubt drags you down, and it puts you under.
That’s why James 1:6 tells us: “believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”
III. Now… there was a passage of Scripture I don’t think I had ever seen till I prepared for this sermon
I’d like you to turn with me to it = Jude 1:22.
What does it say? (Be merciful to those who doubt)
Be merciful to those who doubt Jude 1:22 … hmmm.
In the Gospels, right after Jesus came down from what’s called the Mt. of Transfiguration with Peter, James and John He finds the other disciples are having a problem. A man has brought his son to them to be healed (and Jesus has given them the power to heal), but this boy’s different. A powerful demonic force has control of him, and the disciples can’t seem to heal him.
The father tells Jesus: "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not." Mark 9:17-18
Then Jesus asked the boy’s father, "How long has he been like this?"
"From childhood," he answered. It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us.”
"‘If you can’?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
What’s that father saying?
He’s saying, “I believe… but I gotta admit there’s a doubt gnawing at my heart and I don’t know what to do about it. This has gone on for so long, I’m not sure what I believe any more.”
AND JESUS DOES NOT REBUKE THIS MAN.
Jesus DOES NOT TURN HIS BACK ON THE CHILD.
No! He heals the boy and restores him to his father.
Ø Now I’m tell you this, so you might understand
Every Christian, at one time or another is going to struggle in their faith.
I dare say, that everyone here either has, or will, experience doubts.
AND I want you to realize that God is merciful to those who doubt. HE UNDERSTANDS WHEN WE STRUGGLE IN OUR FAITH.
BUT you must remember - doubt is not a healthy thing. It hurts you… it drags you down… it robs you of your happiness. You don’t want doubt in your life.
IV. So… what are you gonna do about it?
I don’t think we can avoid experiencing doubt sometime or other in our lives… but, there are ways we can avoid having doubt get the better of us. There are things that we can do to stop doubt from damaging our hearts and our lives.
1. Be careful who you listen to
I don’t know who Sarah might have been listening to, but I suspect she didn’t come up with this idea of getting Hagar pregnant – all by herself. I think somebody put that idea into her head. And I think whoever she’s been listening to - has been feeding her their doubts and feeding on her doubts.
There are people out there who do not believe in your God.
OR, if they say they believe in God, they don’t really have much faith in Him. And they’ll tell you things based on their LACK OF FAITH.
There are people out there who are more than willing to share their doubts with you, and at times, they’ll sound very… very… convincing. And they’ll raise questions that you may find hard to answer.
If you are struggling with any kind of doubt… these people can decimate your faith.
David wrote in Ps 1
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:1-3
What’s David saying here?
He’s saying: Be careful who you hang out with!!!
· Don’t listen to the counsel of wicked people
· Don’t stand around with sinners & get their view of right and wrong
· Don’t sit down with people who mock the things of God
You’re not going to find wisdom there.
All you’re going to find there is doubt and destruction.
But now (by contrast) if you spend your time with God and His word - if you let THAT direct your thinking – David tells us that THEN… you’ll enjoy life and everything you touch will prosper.
2. Realize that defeating doubt is often a matter of deciding to believe.
ILLUS: Years ago, when I was up in Northern Michigan, I was waiting for some friends to arrive at an isolated beach outside of the city of Sault St. Marie.
I was bored and decided that (since the lake wasn’t all that big) I’d swim across to the other shore and back. I got out to the middle of the lake – and all of a sudden it occurred to me…
I’m alone out here.
There’s no one here but me.
If I were to drown, they might not find my body for awhile.
I might just sink to the bottom of this lake and they’d have to bring in skin divers to find me
And from that one small thought… that one small doubt … fear got ahold of me.
And I began to panic.
M swimming strokes – that had been fairly smooth up till then - suddenly became choppy, and I struggled to just stay afloat.
I very well could have drowned out there - not because the water was deep - but because I began to doubt.
Obviously, I didn’t drown.
BUT… why didn’t I?
I didn’t drown, because I realized that the reason I was panicking, was because my mind was dwelling on doubt. And, my doubt was focusing on the isolation of the lake, the depth of the lake, the distance to the other side… and on, and on, and on.
If I was going to survive – I had to make up my mind.
I had to make a DECISION
I had to DECIDE to believe.
I had to decide to believe I could make it to the shore
And in order to accomplish that… I had to DECIDE to shut out my doubts. Because as long as I allowed my doubts to gnaw away at me – I was in danger.
So, if you are going to win over doubt in your life… sometimes you have to decide to believe in spite of what you see happening around you.
As I was preparing this sermon, it occurred to me that that sounded a lot like a cop-out.
Believe… even when I have no good reason to believe?? Yeah… that’s exactly what I’m saying.
Because… sometimes all you have to carry you thru your doubt…
3. Is the ability to Focus on God and God alone
You see, our doubts are often based on facts.
Facts we often have trouble ignoring.
When Peter tried to walk on water, he had trouble ignoring the wind and the waves
When Sarah tried to believe in promises of God… she had trouble ignoring the fact that she was an OLD woman, and that OLD women like her didn’t have kids.
They were faced with facts they couldn’t ignore.
Only to discover later… that there were other “facts” they hadn’t known about.
And, that’s going to happen to us.
The bible is filled with stories of great men and women, who overcame their circumstances in spite of the “facts” they were faced with.
CLOSE: As one man observed:
The Bible supplies us with a host of people who rose above their circumstances. They possessed a faith in God’s power that was so strong that they experienced victory despite the facts.
* Moses led Israel out of Egypt with a stick (Ex. 14).
* David killed a giant with a sling and a rock (I Sam. 17).
* Gideon and 300 men attacked and put to flight 135,000 Midianite soldiers with trumpets and
torches (Judges 7:8). Facts are not always important; attitudes are.
Paul was of the opinion that he could do all things through Christ who gave him strength (Phil. 4:13). So can you!
If you are always looking at yourself, most likely you are concerned about the facts. Keep your eyes on Jesus and the facts will not matter. In Jesus you can be more than a conqueror because of the love He has for you. You will be able to rise above the facts because God is more powerful and faithful than all facts the world could ever know.
