Seismic Shifts
Session 2 “From Somberness to Celebration”
RBW (inspired from “seismic shifts” book)
Introduction:
+ Seismic Promo Video Clip
“Happy endings” clips (5mins)
+ Q: What did these clips have in common? Happy Endings.
We love happy endings. Don’t we? But, if you’re like me you hate the things in the movies that take forever to finally lead up to the happy ending.
E.g. There’s a guy who meets a girl (hi, hello), they’re attracted to each other (oooh, aahh). They date and quickly fall in love (birds are chirping, bells are ringing, the hills are alive with the sound of music), then war breaks out(bomb sound). He must serve his country (bye, bye, tears, cleanex, kiss kiss). She waits each day by the mailbox for a letter, for someway of knowing that he’s ok. Each day for the next 10 years she faithfully waits by the mailbox… and so does the rest of the movie theatre audience hoping that this movie will resolve… I paid $7.50 for this ticket and by golly I want my happy ending. Finally, three hours into our epic saga he comes back to their little town. The stereotypical bus that always drops off soldiers to their home towns pulls away, the camera zooms into his eyes… he sees her in the distance, camped out at the mailbox. She see him too. Camera zoom. His eyes, her eyes. From here on out it’s slow-motion as the two are now racing across a field of daisies toward each other’s embrace. It’s magical, It’s typical… and guess what? I don’t care because I got my happy ending.
We don’t care how corny the story becomes; I believe we are programmed into needing a happy ending!
Friends, this is the exact message of our Christian faith… no matter what we go through in life, if we have Jesus Christ - there’s always a happy ending!
People in the world have every good reason to be fatalistic, sad, grieving, fearful, without hope, without joy, without the motivation to truly celebrate… but not us! We know how the story ends… it’s just that the waiting can seem just too long!
+Seismic Clip main point 2
The next shift our author gives us in this session is: “From Somberness to Celebration”
Please stand for our Congregational Reading:
Romans 8:18 (NIV)
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV)
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
In 1945, Anne Frank was a young girl who hid with her family for 2 years in a hidden room during the Nazi invasion of WWII. One of her last entries was this: "Despite everything I believe that people are really good at heart." She was caught and taken to a concentration camp and died at the age of 15. And yet, Anne Frank chose to be joyful.
Ebenezer Scrooge. He had everything. He was the master of his own life. He called all his own shots. He didn’t hide from anybody -- people hid from him. And despite all his wealth and power and success, he had no joy at all. His thoughts on just about everything were as dark as the rest of his life: Bah, humbug!
David was a man after God’s own heart, but who’s brain was he after? Because He made some real stupid decisions in life. Think about it. How could he not have known he’d end up seeing this chick taking a bath. Her name was Bath-sheba, hello! But, He knew how to celebrate God!
2 Samuel 6:16 (NIV)
16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
Often, David just made a decision to be Joyful! Right in the middle of pouring his heart out to God, he gets an attitude adjustment.
Did you know that the term that the Hebrews said, that the first Christians said, and that we still say “Hallelujah” is a great word picture for our study today?
It’s a compound word: Halal, “to praise” and Jah, an ancient way of writing Yah, or Yahweh.
I.e. “Praise be to the Eternal God” But, that’s not the whole meaning. Halal comes from the Hebrew term, haghagh meaning “to move in a circle”, i.e. to dance. To Celebrate! Whenever you say Hallelujah you’re saying my heart and my life dances before God!
David leaped and danced because of God.
I just figured out why Baptists are afraid to dance. The last time someone dances in the NT a Baptist gets his head cut off.
Joy and celebration are a choice. They don’t just happen. And here’s the earth shaker:
Joy isn’t dependent on our circumstances. Like Anne Frank and King David, the apostle Paul is another example of a person with joy. He was beaten and imprisoned for talking about Jesus. He was hated by many of his own people, a traitor to his faith, a Benedict Arnold among Jews. Did all that kill his joy? Nope. From prison he wrote the words for our session today: [Philippians 4:4] Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say again: Rejoice! .
This week our author wants us to learn how Paul did it. How Paul made the journey to joy.
First, let’s see what Paul’s circumstances were:
2 Corinthians 11:23-28 (NIV)
23…I have… been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 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, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from 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. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
OK, so Paul had it easy!
Our author makes 3 points in this seismic shift, the first is found in Phil 3:12-14,
Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
#1 Forget What’s Behind You. Let it go. All the mistakes, failures, foul-ups. Or you spend your life rehashing arguments, and conversations with the ghosts of our imaginations. The reason we revisit our past is because of the “happy ending thing.” We want a happy ending, and certain things lead up to a happy ending and I blew it, and they blew it. Here, here and here… and I want a do-over!
The good news is: You don’t need a do-over to end up with a happy ending.
So, how do you shift your focus from the past to the present? How do you keep the past from invading the present, relationship, attitude, perspective?
Let’s listen to Paul again,
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Rehash: #1 Forget the stuff behind you.
#2 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
#2 Accept God’s Forgiveness!
Guess what, you’ve blown it, and I’ve blown it. And we can’t change it. We can’t put on our superman costumes and turn back time and correct the mistakes. You sit here today, everyone of us people who have lied and cheated and made a host of bad decisions and have had evil thoughts and like Peter have denied God by the way we’ve lived.
But, that’s not the end of the story. The credits aren’t rolling yet. There’s still the most important part of the plot yet to tell… God died in your place. He pushed pause on your execution, He took your place on the cross and when the nails should have been piercing your hands and your feet… instead they pierced His!
That’s Forgiveness! He took it… He took it for all your screw-ups and attitudes and language and mistakes. He took your place!
Paul says it this way,
1 Timothy 1:15-17 (NIV)
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Ok so numbers 1 and 2 take care of the past and the present screw-ups, but what about tomorrow. That’s where it all comes together for us.
#3 Keep Things in Perspective.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
As a Christian, this is just the beginning. I know that’s hard to fathom. But, this reality is only the introduction to the main characters and the middle drama where at times we experience both the romance, the tragedies and patient waiting for good news to come in the form of a letter.
But, it’s not the end. And that’s the point this week: We can experience joy and celebrate this life, each moment, each heartache, each new day… because no matter what happens this is not the end! Paul said it this way,
Romans 8:18 (NIV)
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
This is why Paul could go through the hardships, the loss of friends, the pain, the failures and his past life of mistakes, don’t forget prison and write in Philippians 4:4 (NIV)
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Because He let the past remain in the past, He accepted God’s forgiveness and He kept this life in the proper perspective.
You don’t walk alone this week. The same God who parted the Red Sea and brought down the walls of Jericho and resurrected an ordinary man named Lazarus is present with you right now. And He longs to give you joy, overflowing, all encompassing joy.
Stand and repeat: morning: “I am forgiven”, during the day “I am forgiven” before bed “I am forgiven”
Philippians 4:4 (NIV)
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
