Triumph Over Trials

Triumph Over Trials

Selected Passages

August 28, 2005

Morning Service

Introduction

Chippie the parakeet was simply minding his own business and signing his song one day when his owner decided to clean out his cage with the vacuum cleaner. The phone rang and the lady went to answer it and that was when things began to go horribly wrong for little Chippie. Without the guidance of the woman the business end of the vacuum cleaner sucked up the bird and sent him to the dust bag.

Realizing what had happened the woman tore open the vacuum and ripped apart the bag to find Chippie, fearing the worst. However, Chippie was not dead but merely stunned and covered with dust.

The woman decided that he needed to be revived and ran to the bathroom sink. She turned the water on and stuck Chippie under the flow. Now Chippie is cold and wet from the sudden bath. So the owner decides to dry the bird off but not with a towel. She gets out her hair dryer and blows the bird off.

Chippies goes from being sucked up, to being nearly drowned to being blown over. The owner was asked by a friend a few weeks later about how Chippie was doing, she replied: “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore, he just sits and stares.

Does this sound familiar? Life comes at us at an alarming rate and we are blind-sided just like poor Chippie. One moment we don’t have a care in the world and the next we are sucked up by trials, problems and difficulties. There are times when life is enough to suck the song right out of our hearts.

Life in this world has been corrupted by the effects and the power of sin. Life here is filled with trials and difficulties. I believe that each and every day we are reminded of the fact that life is just not fair.

Life is not fair - watch the news

• Children are horrible abused

• People are shot and killed for no reason

• Drug dealers continue to peddle their poison

• People across the globe are starving

• Hurricanes destroy homes and take lives

• Children are kidnaped

• Young men and women are fighting for our freedom while political activists absue their rights to criticize the military

Life is not fair - Suffering happens - My own family

• My sister Rebecca died shortly

after child birth

• My dad died of massive heart attack

• My brother Steve was killed in a car accident less than half a mile from our home

• My grandfather died following a sudden stroke

Life is not fair

I have seen people go through some of the worst experiences that life can offer. I have seen people endure hardships that would cause a common person to crumble. I have seen people stand in the midst of utter chaos of life. People live through the cruelty of life.

Life just isn’t fair! The lessons I have learned through life have taught me that life isn’t fair. Maybe you’ve had some lessons too. You learned them ...

• When your spouse walked out the door

• At the cemetary, near the grave of a loved one

• The night before your surgery took place

• The day when everything came unraveled

Maybe you have felt like the Psalmist who wrote these words: How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Life is not fair - look at the Bible

• Jospeh was sold into slavery by his brothers

• Job lost everything in a single day

• John the Baptist was executed for no good reason

• The apostles were beaten and tortured for preaching the gospel

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. 2 Corinthians 11:24-26

Anyone who says that the Christian life is a bed of roses is nothing more than a liar. The fact that life is not fair is still very real for people of faith. The rain falls on the just and the unjust.

Life is not fair

Jesus Himself came into this world and was rejected by His own people. Jesus was given a mockery of a trial and then sentenced to death. He was severely beaten and scourged. Roman soldiers mocked Him, beat Him some more and drove a crown of thorns into His scalp. Jesus was forced to carry His own cross through a jeering mob to the place where He would be executed. Jesus was nailed to the cross and died on a garbage heap. Life is not fair!