Intro: Have you ever felt you might be better off dead than alive? The struggles of life seem to surmount the beauties of life and you begin to wonder “what’s the point?” That’s what happened to Geoge Bailey in the classic film It’s a wonderful Life.
In this scene your about to see, George, who owns the only business in town the rich villian Mr Potter hasn’t over taken, goes in desparation to Mr. Potter for help. Uncle Billy has lost their bank deposit, which unbeknownst to him, Mr Potter found and kept. George takes responsibility and now he frantically needs a loan, from the last man he’d ever really want to ask.
show clip: 1:32:00 ...1:35:00 (starts with George at Potters desk, ends with him walking out in a daze. or through 1:36:12 “Show me the way, God. I’m at the end of my rope.”)
George here has hit bottom. The unfairness of it all is overwhelming.
George didn’t lose the money. Uncle Billy did.
George didn’t use people. He even gave up his honeymoon money at one point, to help other people.
Mr. Potter, on the other hand, uses everyone and now is putting the screws to George in his plight, no less. Mr Potter has George’s money, for goodness sake! It certainly doesn’t seem like it’s a wonderful life.
If you know the story, you know that this is where George decided to take his own life. But lets stop and think about your story, and mine.
1. Life is difficult, but ...
A. Life is difficult. You and I know it to be true. Christmas can be difficult. Even life in which a person strives diligently to be godly, helpful, and close to God includes difficulty.
God walked and talked with Adam and Eve. After sin came in their hearts, God was still God, but life was difficult.
Abraham was the only person in scripture specifically called God’s friend. Hand picked to bring God’s blessing into the world. Still, life was difficult. He waited 25 years for the promised child of his to be born. (He was 100)
Moses, raised in a palace! Riding stretch camels! But you know the story of the wilderness. Deliverence from Egypt, but lots of hot sand. Life is difficult, but....
B. And I’m just going to guess that maybe you & I could share a story or two about difficulty. We’ve been at the end of our rope.
Sometimes it’s because of the mud of evils we’ve gotten ourselves into.
You’re so distant from your spouse that even the thought of going out on a date together seems, well, awkward! (Which, we’d have to agree, is a pretty place for a marriage to be.)
Or maybe you’ve spent every penny you’ve got and not really on worthwhile things. Now you can’t make ends meet and the collectors are calling. And you can’t calm your stomach.
Could be that in a fit of anger you called your best friend a really unmentionable name. Now you never talk anymore. Life is difficult, ...but...
Sometimes it’s because of circumstances beyond our control.
Your house is always empty. Dad & Mom are pretty much gone and you roam the halls with questions echoing in your head. “Where is everyone. Am I important?
You’ve moved to a new place. Every street is unfamiliar. You don’t know where to find spagetti sauce in the grocery store. You don’t know who to call when the car won’t start. There’s busyness and bustling all around you, but you feel alone.
It’s winter, it’s colder, several months of gray skies, scraping ice, shoveling snow, shorter days, longer nights. Sometimes we call it the winter blahs, the winter blues. This can even lead to depression–you might find yourself becoming restless, lethargic, cranky, moody, down in the dumps. I’m told psychologists even have a name for this feeling--Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD.
How can it be wonderful?...Life is difficult. but...
Sometimes it’s because of tragedy.
The rise of the computer age changed things and and nobody wants to buy encyclopedias (or the kind of cars you make, or any number of products) anymore -so you go out of business.
The rise of skin cancer claims the life of your child, a young mother herself. As a young mother she leaves behind a husband and 2 kids, who because of their grief, sometimes feel like dying themselves.
Just because it’s the holiday season, Advent, or Christmas, doesn’t mean we find all of life to be joyful and wonderful. In the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life, this is the way George Bailey was feeling.
In fact, often the expectation of celebrating, family, joyful songs, giving –all serves to accent for some of us that we don’t have all that. We have difficulties. But...
C. We’re not the first people to discover this. Did you know Judah felt it’s share of gloom.
read text here: Isa.7:1-17
In the context of our text Israel (10 of the hebrew tribes) and Aram are about to make war with Judah (2 tribes, David’s line). So their young boys were putting on camo, and getting ready to leave home. And their moms were chewing their fingernails off with worry.
God promises to use Assyria to wipe out Aram and Israel, and invited Ahaz, King of Judah to believe him and ask for a sign. But Ahab won’t. So God says, “Ok, you don’t want my encouragement? Assyria is going to conquer you too. Life is going to be difficult.
The land won’t produce. Vinyards will turn to thorns. And Assyria will plunder you.
But I want you to see, that in the midst of the difficulty there are some eye-catching strands of hope.
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14, NIV.
“and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, O Immanuel!”” Isaiah 8:8, NIV.
And then to the invading nations...
“Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.” Isaiah 8:10, NIV.
Heres the central truth for us today: Life is difficult, but God is with me.
Times were about to get really bad. But that didn’t mean for a minute that all of it wouldn’t filter through the loving fingers of God.
Even a nation who didn’t always want God’s helpwas going to have it. Even when they felt the swirling tide of difficult life experiences covering their heads, God wanted them to remember he is right there, never leaving, never forsaking.
700 years later, instead of sending another angel, God sent his son to the blue & green planet to be born of a virgin.
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”--which means, “God with us.”” Matthew 1:21-23, NIV.
Matthew sees that what God wanted Ahaz and Judah to learn from Isaiah is also what he wants us to learn from Christmas:
God comes to people. God cares about your difficult life. God knows how sin has ruined you and me, and he is NOT content to let it be. That’s what the other name is about: Jesus, ie “God saves!”
D. It’s not so explicit in the film, but the fact is God is there! He’s watching George’s life. He is after all, the one telling his angels to pay attention. He hears George’s prayer. He does send an angel to help. He is not, as George prays and many people think, just “up there”. He is WITH.
And the movie doesn’t say it, but the Church must always preach it: It’s a wonderful life because God does not leave us alone. Life is difficult, but God is with me.
Do you understand what God is saying to you in this Advent season? He is saying...
Do not dispair. I know your trials. That is part of the fallen world of men. Don’t be surprized. But don’t dispair. I -have -not -left!
Peter puts it like this ...“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.” 1 Peter 4:12
God is a realist. He never said it’s all a rose garden. He never said “walk with me and everything will go your way.” He does say, “I’ll see you through.”
Lets be honest, there are things we face in our lives, and times when we are afraid.
Your newly married and your thinking “What did I get myself into? I don’t know what I’m doing.”You have a friend in trouble and you think “I don’t know what to say!”
You’re in your job and you think, “Why did they hire me?
You read the news, wars and warhead testings, and terrorist bombings, and organized crime, and school shootings, and you think, “What will this world be like in 10 years?” and you’re afraid.
You want to have a family but the challenges of nurturing new little people through the world is daunting!
You need to know a simple truth...that dawned on Ken one afternoon in the wilderness....
[Ken could share his revelation of God making life work: looking at the wilderness in marvel...]
Think of the place in your life that feels overwhelming.... Now close your eyes a minute, and listen to the our Lord’s voice speak into your situation. He is saying,
“I’m here. I’m with. I’m still in control for you. My coming to your earth is my supreme word on it!
““I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”” John 16:33, NIV.
Conclusion:
Peter goes on to say:
...“So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” 1Pet.4:19.
And that’s my question to you today. Will you committ yourself to your faithful creator? George said, “I’m not a praying man, but God...” That’s nothing to be proud of friends. Will you become a praying man? Will you turn to your Maker and Savior and say “Show me the way. I’m at the end of my rope.” Invite him in. It is his very identity to be Immanuel, the God who is with.
Read Isaiah 8:22-9:2,6
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”” Matthew 28:20, NIV.
Jesus, I invite you in to my heart. My body. My soul. I invite you into my day. Live through me. Show me the way. I want to learn from you. I want you to save and restore me. Be my savior in every sense that word can mean. Amen
