Treated Better Than We Deserve

TREATED BETTER THAN WE DESERVE

Ps. 103:10

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. There was a man who had a cat named Mr. Peoples. It was an especially obnoxious cat which yowled a lot and loved to pounce on him when he fell asleep in his lazy-boy chair. It would stand around smirking at him.

2. So one day he got enough. So he took Mr. Peoples, got in the car and drove a mile away. He set Mr. Peoples on the ground and drove home. When he arrived, there was Mr. Peoples in the front window smiling at him!

3. So he took Mr. Peoples, got in the car and drove all the way across town – 17 miles away – and set Mr. Peoples on the ground and drove off. But when he arrived home, there was Mr. Peoples in the front window smirking at him again!

4. So he loaded up Mr. Peoples and drove in circular pattern for 4 hours -- into the city and out of the city. Certainly now Mr. Peoples would not be able to find his way home. He set Mr. Peoples on the ground and drove off.

5. After driving around for an hour, he called home. His wife answered. He asked, “Has Mr. Peoples arrived home yet?” His wife said, “Yes, he got here 10 minutes ago.”

6. “Well, would you put him on the phone? I need him to tell me how to get home from here!

B. TEXT

“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” Ps. 103:10.

C. THESIS

1. Everybody wants to be treated fairly. We all want the correct change back when we buy something. If we get shortchanged, we’re likely to get in a huff!

2. But do we always want what we have coming to us? That’s the topic of tonight’s message’ “Treated Better than We Deserve.”

3. We’re going to look at Wrong & Real estimations of our blessings, and God’s gracious treatment of us.

I. WRONG PERSPECTIVE ON BLESSINGS

A. COMMON STATEMENTS BY BELIEVERS

1. As a Pastor, I encounter many people facing struggles. I often hear people say that God has failed them in some way.

2. They may say it as,

a. “God must not love me” or

b. “God doesn’t do for me what He does for other people.”

c. They say, “I’ve had trouble after trouble. How can a loving God have allowed this?”

3. The point of all those statements is to judge God and His actions and to say that “God has not treated me fairly!”

4. Or to say “God has not rewarded me adequately” or “God has wronged me.”

B. A CORRECTED PERSPECTIVE

1. That whole line of discouragement is a lie from Hell! It’s a lie aimed at making a person ungrateful for the blessings they have.

2. Instead of looking at what you DO HAVE, you’re focusing on what you don’t have.

3. Everything is seen from a negative light, an attitude of ‘lack,’ bitterness, etc., instead of thankfulness for what we DO have.

4. The old adage says, “I used to cry because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”

5. ILLUS.

a. In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?" The rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. "Do as I say and come back in a week."

b. A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he tells the rabbi. "The goat is filthy." The rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week."

c. A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat -- only the nine of us." [George Mikes, How to be Decadent, Andre Deutsch, London.]

II. REAL ESTIMATION OF OUR ADVANTAGES

A. COMPARED TO OTHERS

1. The USA has only 5% of the world’s population but receives 60-70% of its resources.

2. The 3 richest men in the world have more wealth than the 48 poorest countries! Think of the disproportion!

3. We have televisions, beautiful cars, clothes, electronic gadgets, new homes, new tools, new appliances, etc. We have malls crammed with the latest of everything.

4. I’m sure that people from Haiti or Honduras can’t understand why we can’t be ecstatically happy with what we have; we have far more than we need.

B. OUR GREAT OPPORTUNITIES

1. All over the world right now, millions of people wonder where their next meal will come from.