The Over-Under Reaction

Early on in my ministry whenever I thought I recieved an exceptionally great message I could not wait to go and preach it....I would begin to imagine the altars being full of seekers......I imagined people asking for forgivness from each other or having a Billy Graham style response to the message…you know where hundreds of people came forward for prayer.

These were incredible times…I just knew that I had a word that people could not help but respond to…as least if they were listening to God.

I had the word and the method by which I knew they should respond

However sometimes after preaching these message I would open the altar and no one would come.

This lack of a response would start a cascade of thoughts

Did I hear from God? Why is no one coming to the altar? Then I would move from self doubt to doubting the congregation…obviously people are not coming out of disobedience to the Holy Spirit…so I did what I had learned to do from watching other preachers…and added one more verse of just as I am, I reminded them that this could be the last time they were able to respond to the voice of God, at times I would even chastise people for their disobedience to God…Close in prayer and sulk the rest of the day.

I would be grumpy and just plain difficult to be around. In the process of dealing with this instead of allowing God to control the outcomes I would blame others.

As I have gotten older I have come to understand that my negative outlook or response has nothing to do with other peoples lack of a certain response or their disobedience.

My response was all about my own insecurities.

While I disguised my lack of confidence as genuine care for others..I was really just embarrassed that I may have misheard God instead of trusting God to do whatever God needed to do.

This was driven home to me while I was pastoring in Colorado when I had what I thought was one of those exceptional messages.... I had the word for the people and I thought God promised me a response and when the altar call came no one responded....

This came at a really pivotal time in my ministry…I was struggling with my call and I was wondering if I was doing any good for the kingdom.

When I closed the service I felt defeated and depressed and a little angry…but then a young man named Chris came to me and said that it felt like I was preaching directly to him…he gave his heart to Jesus even though he did not come to the altar....

This was freeing and humbling at the same time.

It was freeing in that.....at that moment I stopped trying to orchestrate how God is supposed to work…it was humbling becuase I was reminded that God does not need me to orchestrate the outcomes.

I learned in that moment that my reactions reflected my confidence or lack of confidence in Jesus.

If our confidence in Jesus is as solid as we say it is we should be able to over-under react in situations that take turns that we do not expect....

What I mean by over under reacting is instead of acting out in a way to ensure our desired outcome…we should be able to rest in the knowledge that a God who has inspired us can and does inspire others in ways that lead people to experience God’s goodness…

I feel like we have lost some of this in the Church world…we have gotten so embroiled in the us verses them mentality of the world that we forget the Jesus Actually Saves…

Maybe some have lost the confidence that God is in fact able to do above and beyond our expectations.

When Our confidence is in the Lord we can face the unexpected turns of life knowing God is for us.

Psalm 121:1-3 “1 I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! 3 He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.”

God Loves us and God has our best in mind and God has the best fo the world in mind. No matter what the situation your in no matter what feeling you have God is not sleeping nor is God unaware of your need. So we should:

Live as though God is in control of the outcome.

There is not a better example of what it looks like to over- under react in the face of injustice than Jesus right before his crucifixion.

John 19:10-12 Paint the picture

Jesus had been flogged taken from palce to palce and is now before Pilate…He is being accused of all manner of heresy and crimes against Rome but he refuses to protect himself. Pilate is trying to save face while at the same time saving Jesus....But Pilate is also a prideful man.

“10 “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”

Pilate was reacting to this situation like he was in control

11 Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

You are not in control of anything the God grants you power but in this instance the mob is in control as well.

12 Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.””

Pilate thought he had more power than he had…

What does it look like for us, to respond like God is in control of all outcomes?

Scripture tells us exactly how to react even when things are not turning out as we think they should

1 Peter 2:21-23

“21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.

Suffering is part of the journey…Things do not always go to plan…this does not means we should abandon the plan....Sometimes....Most of the time the answer is to stay the course.

22 He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone.

Faithfulness and honesty are always expected…and eventually rewarded…

It’s hard to convince people of this. We are so geared to instant gratification we are willing to strong arm people and some are willing to bend the truth another word for deceive to get what we think is supposed to happen....Jesus did not sin force or deceive anyone...

Jesus said His way would be hard…but it would be worth it

23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.”

The Author of this passage is telling us that we do not have to over react to anything because our confidence comes from the Lord not our own efforts.

Confidence in Jesus begins with trusting all the outcomes to God. All of us would agree with this but many of us would have a real problem with this.

What do your reactions say about your confidence in God?

Do they project trust and confidence? How can we practice this?

Social Media if that your thing....Refuse to argue with others that oppose your preferred future.

Communion Doug