Faith from Fear

In my previous post, I shared the manuscript of the first message I wrote.  Here is the sermon I actually preached.  I worked this up this morning.  I sat down to read my first manuscript, and while it wasn't terrible, it was not right either.  I don't know if this one is right, but it is what the church got.

Faith out of Fear (Jonah 1:4-16)

Rob Tennant, HillSong Church, Chapel Hill, NC

Sunday, October 30, 2016

⁴ But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵ Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. ⁶ The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.”

⁷ The sailors^[a] said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” ⁹ “I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰ Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so.

¹¹ Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. ¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.” ¹³ Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. ¹⁴ Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” ¹⁵ So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

The men of the sea, the mariners, were among the bravest of people in the ancient world.  Their ships were ancient.  If they ran into trouble on the open ocean, no coast guard was coming.  There would be no search with the coordinated efforts of several nations.  They were on their own.  And they certainly would run into trouble.

But, they did it.  They set out on the Mediterranean Sea in search of adventure and prophet. They came from different places, different cultures.  And on the ship, with nothing but trust in one another, they journeyed about the known world.  They were definite believers in God or in many gods, but their religious practice amounted to superstition more than faith. 

On this day, at port in Joppa, they would make the Tarshish run as they had before.  A few days at sea would bring temporary wealth and at the end rest and relaxation awaited.  They took on passengers as they had before – this time an Israelite who said as little as possible and kept to himself. He was aloof.  Did he think himself superior?  Did he look down on the sailors?  Would they make life miserable for him because of his standoffishness? 

It did not matter.  The captain admitted him passage and took his money.  They had no care for why he came.  The simply told him to stay out of the way as they did their work.  They did not ask for his story – not at first. 

Was it a beautiful day when they set sail?  The port of Joppa shrunk behind them as they moved into the deeper waters.  They were experienced navigators who by the stars and the winds and the familiar landmarks always knew their location.  The one thing that might throw them was if a significant storm arose.

It did.  The winds started up as the sky blackened.  No panic.  They had seen this before.  But when the lightning cracked across the sky, it felt particularly close.  When waves began to rise, sailors began to comment in a way more tinged with fear than the normal seaman exaggerations.  “I’ve not seen waves like this before,” said one man.  This was his third Joppa to Tarshish run.  “That rain is running sideways,” another exclaimed.  And he was far saltier than the first who spoke.  Then, the man who had been on the seas longer than any spoke solemnly. With a note finality he said, “Men this is trouble.  Call on your gods.”

As they followed their elder’s advice, the boat began to toss and turn, nearly heeling over.  At this point, their prayers were fear-filled prayers.  They made recitations.  They promised things.  They prayed panicked prayers.  Have you ever prayed a promised-filled, panicked prayer in your life?  Then you might understand what this men were doing. 

The prayers didn’t work.  They began tossing cargo – their prophets – overboard.  This entire trip would be for nothing.  No money waiting in Tarshish; and not a one of them even paused, because in panic, we throw whatever we have overboard if it will save our lives. 

The prayers didn’t work.  Neither did lightening the load.  There was nothing left to throw overboard.  They were going to die, and die completely penniless.  The captain ran below deck.  Was he turning coward?  Not this captain.  He was tough, windblown, and fearless.  A moment later he re-emerged with the Israelite.

Now these superstitious sailors were all interested in his story.  This storm was an act of God.  They had no doubt.  Each one had prayed.  Then, they took a dice that had black on three sides and white on three.  In the midst of the tempest they lined up and each man rolled.  Each one came up white.  The Israelite might as well join them in their panic.  He rolled.  Black.  What had he done? 

The sailors were in his face.  “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”

“I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.  I am on the run, fleeing my God.  He has brought this upon us.”  He said this soberly, with no trace of terror.  Who was high-minded fool? Was he so taken with his own dignity that he could not see the death about to swallow them? 

The men were even more afraid, and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” He looked into the driving rain and let the drops, like wet bullets, pelt his face.  “Tell us, darn you. “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?”

He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.” 

Fool.  Fool!  Fool! Fool!  God was punishing the boat, the sailors, and the sea itself because of his arrogance.  Did he think these sailors wanted to bring God’s wrath on themselves by sending him to death?  They began rowing furiously, praying they were headed south, to the coast of Egypt.  It would be a full day’s row in ideal conditions.  But we don’t act logically when we are panicked, do we?  Have you ever been there?  Life is so out of control that you do something that makes no sense in an attempt to fix things.  That’s why we say, “she’s losing it.” 

Reality set in on them.  Prayer hadn’t worked and only increased their fear.  Throwing everything overboard had not worked.  When they confronted Jonah and heard his story, their fear spiked.  Now, they saw the insanity of rowing in this squall.  One more prayer was all they had left.

 “Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.”  So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. 

What conversations did they have in the blue-skyed, quiet calm?  Not a one.  Not one sailor said a thing.  The image of Jonah sinking to the depths was emblazoned on their minds.  Those sailors would never forget that image.  At every turn in this tale, one thing was clear.  The fear in those men grew incrementally.  Each new twist drove the tremors deeper in their souls.  Now, with the danger past, they were spent.  The men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

After chapter 1, we don’t hear from the sailors again in the story, but by the end of Jonah, we are left to wonder.  What did their lives look like after they worshiped on the deck of their ship as the soft waves gently rocked them?  We suppose that they made it to Tarshish, but then what?  As each sailor, got off that boat, how was his life different after his encounter with the living God.

            How about our lives?  One of the cornerstones of the way we try to live as a body of believers is the encounter.  We pray that when we gather, people will meet God in this place, this gathering of believers.  In that meeting with God, when holiness exposes us completely, including our darkest secrets and deepest pains, will fear drive us to our knees in confession and worship?  Or will fear make us runaway and pretend that God is far off somewhere, mostly uninterested in our lives?  We at HillSong try to set conditions so that you will meet God here and stay with Him.  Meet God and be made new in the process. 

            God controls how He will reveal himself.  When he does, we decide if we will run away, or if stripped down, we will kneel at the cross and receive forgiveness and grace and new life. I don’t know what you’ve been through today.  I don’t know the pains stabbing at your heart.  I don’t know the brokenness that drove you to panic and then despair. 

            I pray this morning, you’ll open your eyes and mind and heart wide enough to see God.  When you see God, I urge you step into the fear.  Step to the cross and let the Lord hang your sins on it.  Name your personal disasters, see God in them, and then give yourself to Him.  Let the Lord wash you and bring you up from the waters clean, refreshed, renewed, and alive.  The sailors in Jonah 1 help me see the new possibilities of life that come when, in our fears, we step to God.  Faith can come out of those moments – life renewing faith.  I pray you will see that too and that you will step toward God right now.

AMEN

Grace for Distressing Days (2 Timothy 2:1-7, 2o-23; 3:1)

Sunday, October 18, 2015

          We are praying for wisdom and revelation – for individuals, as we each live as disciples and for HillSong Church as the body of Christ.  I believe God answers this prayer, but in order to receive that answer, we must be positioned toward God, listening, waiting, and ready to receive what God gives us.

          Last week we said we believe God has and continues to issue a specific call to us - HillSong church.  This prayer for wisdom and revelation comes in the context of an identity God has already given us.

We are to be a sanctuary – safe space that welcomes all people into the love of God.  We are to encourage discipleship so that people meet the Spirit of God here.  When we meet God in Christ, we become new creations.  As new creations, we are sent into the world to bear witness to the salvation we have in the crucified, risen Lord.  The key words for our church are Safe-New-Sent. 

          Within this model of church, what does God speak today? And when God speaks, can we hear what is said?

          There is noise that fills our ears and makes it hard to hear.  In 2^nd Timothy 3, we see a gauntlet of challenges that would throw us off track before we even begin our quest to find God’s word for us.  I mentioned last week that our enemies are Satan, sin, and death.  Satan is the tempter who would lead us to rebel against God by choosing our way instead of God’s way.  In doing that, we put ourselves in God’s role, that of ultimate decision maker and standard setter.  Satan tempts and our own tendency to sin make us vulnerable to the temptation. 

When, under the influence of the evil one, we set ourselves up as the ones who determine ultimate meaning, we have entered into idolatry.  This comes by way of pride, Satan’s and our own.  The way of God is life.  God is God of the living.  Any other way is the way of death.  Thus the forces that oppose God and oppose us in living out the purpose God has for us are Satan, sin, and death.

This morning, the second member of that malevolent trio, “sin” comes into focus. The opening to the 3^rd chapter of 2 Timothy says in the last days, distressing times will come.  Why? 

The chapter goes on to list 18 examples of destructive behavior.  This way of living is characteristic of the end times.  We are given 18 ways a person can turn away from God.  Our Father loves each of us unconditionally and eternally.  Here are 18 ways to tell God we’re not interested in the love he offers or in being involved with him at all.  Sin runs amuck in the last days.

Are we in the last days?

          I think so.  Sit down to watch a football game with someone under 10 years old.  See how frequently you have to mute the commercials because they are inappropriate.  Keep a tally of the stories of rape, extortion, tax evasion, mass shootings, terrorism, and poverty that are the content of any night’s evening news.  Go through in your mind the number of times someone in the last month has frustrated, hurt, insulted, or deceived you. And, consider those times you harmed others with words of condescension, dismissal, or shame. 

The degradation of humanity in rebellion against God is an obstacle to our design of seeking God, receiving God’s instruction, and following God’s path.  This obstacle, the tendency humans have to stand on pride, live in idolatry and reject God is everywhere and we cannot be a safe place where people are made new, and we cannot receive God’s revelation until we understand how we stay faithful in these end times.

Allow me to clarify my understandin of phrases like “the end times” or “the final days.” This is the period between Jesus’ resurrection, and the second coming of Christ.  It begins in Acts 2 and lasts until Jesus returns.   We don’t know the length last days will be, but we know we’re in the middle of it.

Yet in this midst of this turbulent time, our church is called to seek and serve God.  How do we do that?  We endeavor to bring the blessings of God to one another and to people outside the church. 

The blessings of God begin with salvation through faith in the resurrected Messiah.  We know many will initially reject that Gospel.  So we offer love through programs that promote education to those who can get it, help with rent to those who have trouble paying, fix houses for those who can’t do it alone, provide community and friendship for the lonely, and offer hospitality to those who come to us for reasons other than a thirst for truth.  We promote human flourishing. 

As we pray, listen, and wait for God to act, in our lives, we (1) strive for excellence in all that we do.  As we make excellence our standard, we (2) lean on God’s grace.  As 2^nd Timothy 2:1 says, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

That’s it.  We strive for excellence knowing our success is dependent upon God’s help and knowing God gives that help in abundance.  Our “no” to the forces of our age that would have us set ourselves up as gods and make our own sensual appetites our ultimate goal is to say “yes” to human flourishing.  We look around us and says, “How can I and how can we help make things good just the world was good when God first made it?”  How can we be God’s agents of redemption? 

Several pictures come from 2^nd Timothy 2 to help us get this.

First, verse 3.  “No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer.”  God is that officer and we live for God’s pleasure.  Through prayer, the support of our church community, and the constant empowering Holy Spirit at work in us, we don’t get bogged down by those 18 signs of distress in chapter 3.  We live with resurrection in view.  That’s our focus.  We live to please our commander.  And our commander’s greatest commands are that we love God above all else and love our neighbor with an extensive loves that speaks through acts of compassion.

The next picture comes in chapter 2, verse 5.  It says, “in the case of the athlete, no one is crowned without competing, according to the rules.”  Two words jump out.  First we have to compete.  Being a disciple is work.  We cooperate with the Spirit in trying to live compassionately, and generously.  Yes our success is Spirit-dependent, but we do our part.  We commit to compassionate God-love the way a great champion commits to performing at high levels in her sport.

We compete and the second word related to this athlete metaphor is we do it by the rules.  We do things God’s way.  Our ethic is as important as our result.  We love with integrity.  This is why we need to constantly pray for wisdom, by the way.  The balance of extreme compassion and extreme integrity is impossible for humans but doable when we act in God’s power.

The third picture comes in 2:6.  “It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the share of the crops.”  Effort is required to be strong in the grace that we have in Christ and strive for excellence in all things.  Our work does not save us.  Jesus does that.  But our effort to live as God would have us live and love as God commands us to love indicates how highly we value the life to which God calls us.  Worship, prayer, individual devotions, commitment to compassion in our daily lives, responsible living in our habits, family, and jobs, kindness, and generosity – these make up our work as disciples. 

That’s three pictures of living in grace while striving for excellence – the focused soldier, the competitive, committed athlete, and the diligent farmer.  For the fourth is in 2 Timothy 2:20-21.  There true disciples are compared to golden utensils, the household’s very best.  In a world that is dying, we belong God.  This means our lives have purpose – to point people to God.  Nothing matters more so we live in such a way that we are witnesses.  Whether out activity is religious or the stuff everyday life, we do what do properly and in kindness and generosity so that even in banal things we point people to the Lord.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven.”  If our striving for excellence in life and in discipleship draws an observer’s attention to God to the point that the observer then glorifies God, that observer is in the process of turning to God and himself becoming a disciple. 

Give attention to these pictures, metaphors that show what it is like to be a committed follower of Jesus in world hell bent on rejecting Him.  The focused soldier, the competitive athlete, the diligent farmer, shining golden vessel: this is the disciple. 

When we live into these images we are ready to accept God’s invitation to join Him as co-creators.  Through us, God enables people to flourish, to live the abundant life Jesus promised.

When God first created the universe, God’s intent was for human beings to be singled out among all God made.  God intended that we humans be in relationship with Him and do the types of things He did. 

God invited Adam into the creation process by giving him the responsibility of naming the animals (Genesis 2:19).  It says, God sat and waited to see what the man would name each animal.  Before sin came into the world, God gave humans work to do – the work of naming.  When the world is redeemed, God will again give us creative work.  God made us to be productive and creative.  Our striving for excellence is a way we live in anticipation of Jesus’ return.    

One day, in the Kingdom of Heaven, we will exercise our God-given, creativity.  Today’s prayer for wisdom and revelation is a reach toward human flourishing that can only happen in relationship to God. 

Now, if I were having a tough time in life and I heard this talk about excellence, I’d think, “Wow!  That sounds like a lot.  I barely make it from day to day. I can’t think about creativity or flourishing.”  That’s alright, if that is where you are today.    

God knows.  If doing your best is making it through today, then make it through today leaning on God.  The word is not “be strong in all the power you possess.”  We are all weak.  We are all broken.  The word is “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

That’s where we end – with God’s grace.  God’s grace is enough.  If I commit 1000 sins today, God’s grace is enough and I will be forgiven.  I need to stop all those sins, but until I stop, God will forgive.  If I never stop, God still loves me. 

If every day is a struggle for someone, God’s grace is enough to get her through. 

If someone appears to win in everything she does, take a closer look.  She hurts too and is as grace-dependent as you or me.  And I believe she and you and I have the potential to flourish.  We do when we learn to be strong in grace and live in Christ. 

Imagine what flourishing would look like in your life.  Pray and ask God to show you a picture of how God wants you to be a co-creator with Him.  Ask for help in getting past all the snares listed in 2^nd Timothy 3.  Imagine being strong in His grace and living a life of rich creativity and full, joyful flourishing in relationships with God and with people.  Pray for these things as we respond to God’s grace.

AMEN

Coffee Colored Faith

In our church this past Sunday, a man gave the children’s sermon.  It was about obedience.  He wanted to show how obedience to God’s ways fills and flavors one’s life so that life lived in obedience to God is better, more wonderful than a life of disobedience.

He used three images.  He showed the children pictures.

First, he used a carrot.  What happens when you boil a carrot in water?  It gets soft and mushy.  Do we want to be soft and mushy on the inside, no form, nothing to stand on?  Of course not!

Next, he used an egg as his example.  What happens when an egg is boiled?  Inside it hardens.  And our apart from the ways of God our hearts harden until we have no heart left and are nothing more than stone inside.

I get that his illustrations are not all that sophisticated, but this was a children’s sermon with kids as young as pre-school age.  They got the point.  And with his third example, I got an even better blessing, one I am sure he did not intend but would be happy with nonetheless.

He showed a picture of a coffee bean.  When that is ground and boiled, it turns water into wonderful, delicious coffee.  First, the man who gave this demonstration is my friend and I did not know he is coffee drinker.  Maybe he’s not.  Maybe he described so beautifully for the sake of the illustration.  I am a total coffee drinker.  I think it is a wonderful invention, brought the world by Ethiopia, by the way! 

So, as a coffee-lover, I loved that he likened the wonders of a life of obedience to God to water that has been turned into coffee (which I would take over wine any day).  But there was, for me, a deeper blessing.  Here is my family.

Notice, my children are vanilla, milk chocolate and dark chocolate.

Now think about colors and the images they usually convey.  When someone is in a dark mood, is that a good thing?  Is a black mark on your record something you want?  Do we yearn for dark times?  Is the phrase “black as night” accompanied by happy butterfly music?  So often “dark” and “black” conjure up negative thoughts.  Other colors are used to arouse happiness, joy, or peace.

What does that mean for people who are categorized as “black”?  Africa in some circles is called the “dark” continent.  By the way, that is about as ignorant as it gets.  Travel to Ethiopia and you’ll be blizted by vibrant color, especially red, green, and yellow!

When my friend did his children’s sermon, the negative were the hard white egg and the mushy orange carrot.  That was life without God’s word.

The good life, the delicious life is the coffee-darkened life.  As that deep blackness of coffee permeates the colorless, flavorless water, excitement, goodness, energy, and joy seep in just life is invigorated when it is filled to the brim with the ways of God.  I didn’t realize until I heard that simple children’s sermon how I yearned for something that connected dark colors (the colors of my children’s skin) with something wonderful. 

I thank my friend for giving me this delicious, beautiful metaphor I can hold onto in order to celebrate my Lord and my kids. 

Metaphors aside, I think I’ll celebrate right now with a snack of buttered steamed carrots, a salted hard-boiled egg, piping hot black coffee, and clear ice water.