Something To Shout About
Pastor Ethan J. Muse
My subject this morning is Something To Shout About, and I really hope that by the time you leave, you will see that it really is. As a young man at Andrews University, I hung out with other guys my age. And, if you know much about single men in their early 20s, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult for you to guess what we liked to look at and talk about the most--single young women in their early 20s. I always got a kick of hanging around at times with some of the young black preachers and seeing their reactions when they happened to see a beautiful young woman walk by. They would give similar reactions to that as they would give to a good sermon in church. They would say things like, “God is good!” and “Hallelujah!” and “My, my, my!” One of my favorite reactions was, when she walked by, some of these young men would say, “That’s something to shout about!”
Now, just to ease your minds, that’s not what I’m going to be talking about today. But, in every culture, there are things that people get excited and shout over. In the black culture especially, it is a normal thing for people to get excited about what God has done and for them to shout His praises in church. In some other Christian groups that tend to get overly emotional, they’ll start shouting before they even know what they’re shouting about. I find that many of them don’t really listen anyway, so if you’ve got the right rhythm going along with enough charisma, you could be preaching “Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow”, and you’ll have some of them shouting and clapping and praising when they haven’t really heard a word you’ve said.
I’ve found that every culture and every group has their shouting point. People shout for different things. I have seen people who in church were the most calm and subdued of Adventist Christians, and yet once the ballgame starts, they’re jumping out of their seats, screaming and hollering, throwing food at the television, getting excited over something that means absolutely nothing.
I wish in our traditional white Adventist circles that we could get excited a little more often. I don’t mean overdo it like some groups--don’t shout over nothing. But when you stop and realize the incredible love that God has for us, the blessings He has showered upon us, and the beautiful and awesome message He has given us, that’s something to shout about! The early Adventists knew this well. Their church services on Sabbath mornings began at 6:30 and went all day long. They would get so caught up in thinking about what God had done for them, and the thought that Jesus was coming soon, that sometimes they would start shouting during the secretary’s report.
So, we’ve seen that people shout over God’s love, over His blessings, over His soon coming. We’ve seen that some people shout over football and basketball. We’ve even seen that some people shout over nothing and don’t even know why they’re shouting. But this morning, I want to share with you something else in the Bible that Jesus Himself said was something for us to shout about. Turn with me to Matthew 5:10-12. Jesus is speaking, and He says, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
I want to point out a few things here in introduction before I get to the 3 main points of my sermon. First of all, when Jesus said Blessed, some modern translations word it as Happy. I’ve thought that myself, and it could be true, depending on how you use the word. The problem with that word is that people tend to equate happiness with luck. Jesus is not saying here that we can and should feel the same way about suffering and being persecuted as we would if we won $10 million from Publisher’s Clearinghouse. It does mean, however, that we are to be fully satisfied. It would be the same if you were to wish someone a blessed Sabbath.
Secondly, Jesus said that we were blessed when we suffered trials and tribulations and persecutions because of righteousness for His sake. Much of the suffering that the world experiences is self-induced. They bring trouble on themselves, and oftentimes they blame it on God. A man smokes for 30 years and gets lung cancer or emphysema, and then says, “God, why did you do this to me?” God didn’t do it--he did it to himself.
We need to make sure that our suffering and persecutions are indeed because of our stand for Christ and not because of some foolishness that we’ve done. Some people are going around trying to bring on persecution ahead of time. There are billboards all over the interstates and highways of Alabama announcing that Sunday worship is the mark of the beast, and that God is calling for people to come out of Babylon and to keep the Sabbath. This is sad because I have seen at least 3 of these billboards, and I haven’t even seen Jesus mentioned on any of them. One person not long ago bought a full-page newspaper ad in Chicago and gave a full-page sermon/study on the mark of the beast and the evils of Catholicism. Folks, while all of that is true, it automatically becomes error when Christ and His love are left out of it. The suffering and persecution that results from people doing things like that are brought on by human callousness and insensitivity, not because of Jesus.
But thirdly, Jesus said that when we do suffer trials and persecution for His sake, we should rejoice and be glad. Rejoicing is a very vocal form of praise, which can tend to get rather loud at times. Jesus said we should rejoice because of our suffering for His sake. In other words, it’s something to shout about!
By the end of this sermon, we’ll see that everything we suffer as Christians is good in the long run. Everything we go through is allowed by God for the purpose of our redemption. But that’s point number 3, and I still have to cover points 1 and 2.
My first point is found in 2 Timothy 3:12. Paul says, “And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Point number one is that if you are a Christian, you are going to suffer.
Why is this? Many people say that they never suffered when they were out in the world. Before they came to know Jesus, they never had any troubles, but now that they are wanting to follow Christ, it seems like nothing goes right for them anymore. I am of the belief that the reason for this is because the devil tends to leave a person alone when he’s got them. If you’re not a threat to him, then he will leave you alone. But when you come to Christ, he’s not going to come and pat you on the back and congratulate you for deciding to follow Jesus. No, he’s going to begin his attacks and try everything to get you back into his snares.
Many churches and preachers today are teaching the exact opposite. They are teaching that Christians aren’t supposed to suffer. They say that whenever a Christian suffers, it’s only because they don’t have faith--it’s their fault. They say that if you have faith, all the money in the banks can be yours. If you have faith, all the best health can be yours. If you have faith, all the best homes can be yours. If you have faith, all the best cars can be yours. If you have faith, you can be the lender and not the borrower. And all of that is the very nothing that many sincere but biblically uninformed Christians are shouting about.
The fact is that every Christian, no matter how large or small their faith is, will have to suffer at some point in their lives. A friend of mine recently died from a very painful battle with cancer. He suffered greatly, but he was a man of great faith. He was very courageous right to the end. Whenever I called him to see how he was doing, he ended up praying for me and encouraging me. And, by the way, I still don’t really understand yet why he had to suffer the way he did, and to die at 64 years of age. God never said that we’d understand it all right now, but as the song says, we’ll understand it better by and by.
By the way, we can take comfort in the fact that God will never allow us to suffer more than we can handle. When my friend was dying, he handled it better than some of us who knew and loved him. The last time I got to see him was when I was in California, and he came by the Amazing Facts office to get a tour. I took 2 of my roommates to meet him, and he asked me, “So, Ethan, did you tell these guys I’m dying?” I started talking quietly and said, “Yeah, but I still don’t believe it.” He replied, “You don’t believe it? Well, you’d better believe it. The Bible says, ‘The living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything,’ so you’d better get your theology straight, boy! We know I’m dying, we just don’t know when I’m dying yet.” He handled it well. Every nurse and home health care worker that came to visit him couldn’t leave without hearing the gospel preached to them from his bed. And, when we suffer, we can be at peace because we know that through Christ, we can handle whatever suffering comes our way. The Bible says that weeping only lasts for the night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5). And friends, that’s something to shout about!
My second point is that Jesus understands our sufferings and trials because He went through them like we do. We’re going to look at a few different texts here. Hebrews 4:15, 16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.” If you have the old King James Version, it says that Jesus was “touched with the feelings of our infirmities.” Let’s compare this with Hebrews 2:18, which says, “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” In other words, Jesus can help us like nobody else because He knows exactly what we’re thinking and feeling in any situation, because He’s been there before us. There is no suffering, no trial, no emotional pain that we face that Jesus hasn’t already dealt with.
Let’s go now to Isaiah 53. This was read for our scripture reading this morning, and I wish that we had time to cover everything in this most powerful chapter, but we don’t. Let’s just quickly look at about 5 details about Christ’s life and death that were given in this chapter, and then we’ll look quickly at Gethsemane and the cross. We’ll see how Jesus understands and sympathizes with our suffering and pain.
1. The first half of verse 2 says, “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground.” The Message Bible translates it as saying that He was a “scrawny seedling”, a “scrubby plant out of a parched field”. What use do people generally have for scrawny seedlings and scrubby plants? Not much use. They usually ignore them or throw them away. How many of us have ever felt inadequate or useless, or been told that we were no good? Have you ever felt or been told that you weren’t good enough to fit in? Those feelings cause pain, and Jesus suffered those feelings so that He can relate to us when we feel the same.
2. The second half of verse 2 says, “He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.” Again, the Message Bible comes in handy here. “There was nothing attractive about Him, nothing to cause us to take a second look.” I don’t care who you are, nobody likes to be called ugly or to feel ugly. There’s no pain like the pain of being rejected by someone you like because they don’t find you attractive. Jesus felt that pain for us, and knows what we are going through.
3. The first half of verse 3 says, “He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Other Bibles say that He was rejected by men. The Message Bible says that “He was looked down on and passed over, a Man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.” Sometimes we get rejected, passed by, and it hurts. Jesus knows that pain, too, for He suffered it just for us.
4. The second half of verse 3 says, “And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” The Message Bible says, “One look at Him and people turned away. We looked down on Him, thought He was scum.” Have you ever been to a large city and seen homeless people begging for money on the streets? Most people won’t even look at them, because they’re afraid that if they look at them, then they might be asked for help. And there was a lady named Jennifer who came to some evangelistic meetings we held in Shreveport last year with Jason Morgan from Amazing Facts. Although I never got the chance to meet her, I was told that she was a very nice lady. But she had a severe skin disorder which gave her huge, unsightly bumps all over her face. She quit coming to the meetings after a few nights because she felt nobody wanted to be her friend, that everyone turned away to keep from talking to her. Maybe someone here has felt like that at some point. Jesus went through that just for you.
5. Verse 4 begins with something that is all-inclusive. “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried.” Whatever pain, whatever sorrow, whatever grief, whatever heartache we have today, Jesus knows and understands, because He felt it too, just for us.
When you look at Gethsemane and the cross, you see even more of the suffering that Jesus went through for us. He had friends that he counted on who were too busy sleeping to even pray for him. When He needed their support the most, they ran away. Jesus had fair weather friends, so He knows how we feel when our friends leave us.
Jesus loved Judas just as much as He loved the other disciples, but Judas betrayed him. Jesus felt the pain of betrayal by someone He was close to. Many of us have experienced that, but Jesus knows what we’re going through, for He felt the same pain we feel.
Jesus also loved Peter, a man who swore up and down that he would never leave Jesus, and yet he ended up denying 3 times that he even knew Jesus. Have any of us ever done something so that the people we were close to no longer acknowledged even knowing us? Maybe we were good friends with someone, but once they moved up in the world, it was no longer advantageous for them to remember us. Jesus went through that same pain.
At His trial, He was beaten, kicked, spat upon, flogged, had his beard pulled out by the roots, had a crown of thorns jammed onto his head, and more. He was nearly beaten to death. He suffered physical abuse. He was mocked and derided and made fun of. He suffered verbal abuse. There was no evidence that He had committed any crime, and so several false witnesses were called in to lie about Him. Some of us know what it’s like to be lied about. Jesus went through all of that just for us, and He can relate to whatever we’re going through.
When He was hanging on the cross, people continued to yell at Him and make fun of Him. They teased Him and told Him to come down. Jesus suffered emotional abuse. And the ones who were primarily responsible were the priests and Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day. He suffered all of this abuse at the hands of the church, and so it became religious abuse. Jesus went through all of that, so He understands our suffering. Friends, no matter what suffering or pain we might have to go through, Jesus understands our pain and wants to help us with it, and that’s something to shout about!
I’m going to make point 3 quickly now, and then I’m going to close with a story. Remember, point 1 is that as Christians, we all will have to suffer at times. Point 2 is that Jesus understands our suffering because He suffered. Point 3 is that all of our suffering as Christians is allowed by Jesus for our own good. All of our sufferings are actually blessings in disguise. We might wonder down here why we have to go through so many trials and difficulties, but when we get to heaven, we’ll praise God because we wouldn’t have had it any other way. Turn with me to Romans 5:1-5. “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Turn with me now to Romans 8:35-39. It says, "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ’FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I want to close now with a story, but before I read the story, I want to share with you a paragraph from the book Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, page 71.
"The Father’s presence encircled Christ, and nothing befell Him but that which infinite love permitted for the blessing of the world. Here was His source of comfort, and it is for us. He who is imbued with the Spirit of Christ, abides in Christ. The blow that is aimed at him falls upon the Savior who surrounds him with his presence. Whatever comes to him comes from Christ. He has no need to resist evil for Christ is his defense. Nothing can touch him except by our Lord’s permission, and `all things’ that are permitted `work together for good to them that love God.’" ---Ellen White, Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, page 71 (Romans 8:28)
The story that I’m going to close with is one of the most powerful testimonies I’ve ever heard. It was told by Elder Frank Phillips in a sermon he preached during a week of prayer at Andrews University in 1978. Elder Phillips has been dead for 10 years now, but his sermons live on in tape and CD format. The sermon that this story comes from is from his series "The Justified Walk", and can be ordered for free by visiting http://www.justifiedwalk.com. This story is copied word for word from his original telling of it, and told in his first person account.
For many years I served in the Prayer and Counseling Department at our Camp meeting. During that time many people sought counsel and advice; but one young lady stands out vividly in my memory. She was a young mother of two, about 26 years old, and her family was falling apart. As we began to talk in the counseling room, she told me that her marriage was breaking up and that there was no way it could be saved. Snuggled on her lap was a beautiful three-month-old baby, and standing close beside her was a lovely three-year-old girl.
"We’ve sought marriage counselors; we’ve been everywhere and done everything we can think of to save our marriage. This little baby," motioning to the sleeping child on her lap, "was our last effort to weld our family together; but it hasn’t worked. There’s nothing to do but to break up our home."
I prayed with her and she returned to her tent. During the next three days she continued to come for counseling, and each time she revealed more details of the family’s problem. Finally, on Thursday, she said "I wish there was something that could be done.”
"Are you ready to break your home up?" I asked.
"No," she said. "I’m really not."
"Are you willing to pay any price to hold it together?" I questioned.
"I think so." She hesitated to answer.
"I want to give you something," I said as I handed her a card on which I had printed a helpful quotation. "I believe what is written on this card is the most potent paragraph in the entire writings of Ellen G. White. I’ve seen it work miracles in homes; I’ve seen it save lives; I’ve even seen it weld families back together even after there’s been a divorce. It reads this way. . . "
"The Father’s presence encircled Christ, and nothing befell Him but that which infinite love permitted for the blessing of the world. Here was His source of comfort, and it is for us. He who is imbued with the Spirit of Christ, abides in Christ. The blow that is aimed at him falls upon the Savior who surrounds him with his presence. Whatever comes to
him comes from Christ. He has no need to resist evil for Christ is his defense. Nothing can touch him except by our Lord’s permission, and `all things’ that are permitted `work together for good to them that love God.’" ---Ellen White, Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, page 71 (Romans 8:28)
"I’m sure you didn’t get everything from this paragraph in the first reading, so I’d like to emphasize two very important points: We’re told that Christ accepted everything as coming from whose hand" The Father’s. You mean when they spat in His face He accepted that as coming from His Father? Are you ready to go that far? "You mean when they platted a crown of thorns and put it upon His brow and crushed it down and the blood coursed down His face, He accepted that as coming from His Father? "You mean when they took Him to the hill in Nazareth and tried to push Him off He accepted this as coming from His Father? "Yes.
Every solitary experience that touched His life He accepted as coming directly from His Father. Here was His source of comfort, and it is the same for us today! "When the robe of Christ’s righteousness surrounds us, He only parts it to allow through that which is for our best good."
I said to this young woman, "I want you to take this. Take it to your tent. Read it. Study it and come back tomorrow."
When she came back the next day, I asked if she had done what I had requested of her, and she said, "Yes."
"Are you willing to follow the principles in that single paragraph?"
Slowly and thoughtfully she answered, "I don’t know. I’m not sure.... I wish you could talk to my husband. He’s coming tomorrow to pick us up. He isn’t an Adventist." I told her that if she could get him to stay until after the Sabbath services I would be glad to talk with him.
The young husband did stay and she brought him to see me. I talked with them both, handed him a copy of the same card, and watched while he read it. "If either one of you will follow this instruction and simply accept it as the principle that guides your
life, your marriage can be saved. If both of you will follow it, the most joyous experience you can possibly imagine will be yours." I prayed with them before they left--not knowing what the outcome would be. The next year at Camp meeting as I was walking down one of the trails, I ran right into this lady.
"I’ve been looking all over for you!" she said. "Do you remember the counsel you gave me last year along with that card?"
"Now that you’ve jogged my memory, I do remember. What can I do for you?"
Excitedly she said, "I want to tell you what happened!"
"Wonderful! Tell me. Did you actually apply the principle?"
"I left this campground with a determination that I was going to accept everything that touched my life, everything, as coming directly from the hand of Jesus."
"Wonderful! I said. "How did it go?"
"For the first three months it was hell." (And those were the exact words she used.) "I thought I was living with the devil. I’ve never seen my husband act so mean and ornery and devilish in his whole life!
But then, after about three months something began to change." She paused, smiling wryly at the reflection, then continued, "I’m not sure yet whether it was in me or in him. But something began to change. "After another three months had passed, we were enjoying the sweetest relationship we’d ever had in our married life. We had never experienced anything like this. Why, everything was just as though heaven had opened up. But I knew the devil wasn’t going to let this last very long."
"But," she continued, "it lasted for quite awhile. Then our baby died. I just wasn’t ready for that. I had accepted everything as coming from Jesus, but wasn’t ready for this. You see, it wasn’t just that our baby had died--it was the way it happened that really made it so hard." I could see tears coming to her eyes. Gently I encouraged her to tell me about it.
"Well," she said, "my husband and I decided one day to take a drive up into the hills. We had done this many times before, and had always left the baby with my husband’s mother. Even though she is getting quite old, she loved to care for our little one, and felt she was quite capable of handling our eleven months old bundle of energy.
"Grandma’s medicine was on the end of the davenport. When she laid the sleeping baby down there, she forgot about the pills. She crossed the room and began to read.
"When the baby woke up, Grandma didn’t notice. Our baby crawled over to where the pills were, grabbed a handful of them and was swallowing them when Grandma looked up. As Grandma watched our baby swallow those pills, she panicked. She froze in her seat! She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t do anything!
"When my husband and I came back we found the baby on the davenport in a coma. We grabbed the baby, saw the pills and grabbed them too. Grandma was still sitting in the chair--in shock! We rushed to the hospital as fast as we could, but within an hour our precious baby was dead.
"You see," she continued, "it was difficult because it was so unexpected, but that was not all. It was also difficult because within just a few hours the members of my church began to come and sympathize with me. This went on for days, and I accepted their sympathy. "After a few days I began to feel the same old resentments, the same old feelings that I had when I came to visit you at Camp meeting. And," she said, "I began to realize that I had failed the Lord. I had pledged to Him that I would accept everything that touched my life as coming from Jesus, but I had not accepted the death of my child as coming from His hand.
"I rushed into the bedroom. Falling on my knees, I prayed, `Lord, I have failed You. I have disappointed You. Please, please forgive me. I will accept even the death of my baby as coming from Your hands. You know what You `re doing, I don’t. I don’t enjoy it; I don’t like it, but I know that You know what You’re doing and that in good time You’ll let me know.’
"I got up from my knees and walked back into the front room. Within a few minutes the doorbell rang. Another lady had come to sympathize with me over my loss. I looked at this nice lady, put my hand up and said kindly as I could, `I don’t want to appear rude or ungrateful for your kindness, but please don’t sympathize with me. You see, I gave my life to Jesus a year ago, and I gave my baby’s life to Him at the same time. We are in the hands of Jesus. He knows what He is doing, I don’t; but I don’t have to know because I trust Him. So, please, instead of sympathizing, would you kneel with me, and we can thank Jesus for actually working in our lives.’
"We knelt together and prayed. The lady left immediately after prayer. A few more people came to offer their sympathy and I shared the same thoughts with them. As soon as people realized that I did not want sympathy, they stopped coming.
"About three weeks after the death of our baby, the doorbell rang. I went to the door and there stood my husband’s mother and father.
`May we come in and talk with you?’ they asked.
“Yes. Of course," I told them.
"Dear, we’ve been watching you, watching you for a whole year. Something has happened. You’re not the same girl you were a year ago. And we’ve watched you even closer since the little baby died. We’ve seen no resentment in you. We don’t understand it at all, but we want to tell you something....’
"You see, when we were teenagers, we were members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but since our marriage neither one of us has been inside of a Seventh-day Adventist church--never. Our son was reared out of the church entirely, but if God can do in you what He’s done in you in one year’s time, then He can do it in us, too. We’re going to come back to church.’
"Two months ago my husband’s parents were baptized. Born again. They have a new life.
"But, that’s not all! After they were baptized, my husband came home one day and said, `Honey, you’re not the girl I married. If God can do in you what He has done in this past year, if he can go in my parents what He has in such a short time, then He can do it in me, also!’"
Glowing with happiness, she continued. "One week ago my husband was baptized a born-again Christian! Now, I understand! In the earth made new I’m going to have my baby, my little girl, my husband, and his parents! I understand now that God works in marvelous ways His wonders to perform. I just want you to pray with me that I will never forget this lesson--to accept absolutely everything as coming from Jesus and to give God thanks for it."
You see, that’s what Paul says, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you." "Rejoice, and again I say unto you, rejoice." Not for just the things that please me, but rejoice in whatever happens--knowing that God is at the helm of my life.
When troubles and trials come, recognize one thing--that upon no worthless material will God waste any effort. So you can always rejoice and say, "Lord, thank you for thinking that I am worth working on." You don’t even have to enjoy the way He’s working. I’m sure that Jesus didn’t enjoy when the crown was put upon his head. I’m sure He didn’t enjoy when the nails were driven through His hands, but He still said, "Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing." Can you see what this did in the life of Christ? As our example, Jesus totally trusted His Father. He knew that nothing could touch Him but that which His Father permitted--no matter what it looked like or felt like. He trusted His Father’s love, and He rested in the assurance that whatever was allowed was for His ultimate good. Does this help you? Can you begin to see that no matter how terrible something might look or feel in your life--no matter how awful someone may be treating you--if you can accept these things as coming directly from the hand of Jesus, they can be used by God to bless you.
This dear lady said to me, "I shudder every time I think of it. If I had gone on with resentment in my heart, my husband and his parents would never have seen Jesus in me."
And friends, that is something to shout about!
Appeal and prayer.
