How does God feel about my feelings?
How does God feel about my feelings? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 36:35
0 ratings
· 33 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
Acts29 Sunday
Your Apple calendar may not have told you but today is Church Planting Sunday.
Every year we take some time to celebrate what God is doing in planting churches worldwide, specifically through the network we’re a part of in Acts29.
What is Acts29?
Acts29 is a network of churches who link arms to see the gospel spread around the world through the planting of churches.
Why plant churches?
Well the answer lies in the name Acts29. If you know your Bible the book of acts does not have 29 chapters it has 28. But in those 28 chapters we see the birth of the church - the new people of God who include all people of the world, all men and women, rich and poor, republican and democrat, and all! And so Acts29 is continuing that story of planting churches for the glory of Jesus.
Churches are closing around the world and in our neighborhoods. People need to hear about Jesus around the world.
Video
Rayce and I went to the National Conference in October and we got to meet Mark Smith.
The pastor of City Church in Dublin, Ireland. He said that if your church is over 300 in Ireland you’re a megachurch.
How does Acts29 benefit Gateway Chapel?
You get to benefit something bigger than yourselves.
Your pastor is cared for.
You have people praying for you.
Pray
Pray for Local Churches
Pray for new churches planted worldwide
Pray for God’s kingdom to grow through Acts29 churches
Show video
Pray for churches
Intro
When I say “Emotional rollercoaster” what comes to mind?
Maybe it’s watching a Mariners game. Or parenting, or your job.
I like rollercoasters, emotional ones, a little tougher.
When I think of emotional roller coaster, I think of February-September of 2020.
I mean my goodness. Between having a baby, the world shutting down, changing careers…
There was joy, excitement, contentment, and then there was panic, worry, fear, anxiety, stress, anger, confusion, despair, hope, a little excitement...
It often felt like on the roller coaster when you go over the rise and you’re not touching the seat anymore.
I don’t know what the last 3 years have been like for you, but I imagine many of us have felt some uncomfortable emotions...
Stress, loneliness, fear, anxiety, depression, apathy, anger, contempt, confusion, despair, boredom...
As a Christian, so often I have thought, “I shouldn’t feel those things! I must not have enough faith. I must not be trusting God enough.”
Because didn’t God say to Joshua, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be afraid!”
Didn’t Jesus say to the disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe in me.”
How does God feel about my feelings? My stress? My shame? Fear? Sadness?
I am really excited for this next 4 weeks where our goal is to say this: your inner life matters. Your thoughts, your will, your desires, and your emotions.
As Christians we often demonize feelings and miss an opportunity to grow in faith.
So what we’re going to do today is give a biblical overview of emotions, and the next three weeks we’ll be doing co-teaching sermons with myself, Gene Poppino, Dave Waller, and Mike Paterson to talk about how do we grow to be fully human: spiritually healthy and emotionally healthy.
Pray
Talking about feelings in church is risky.
Eyebrows inevitably raise.
It’s kind of like if I said, “Today we’re talking about science.”
We put these things at odds: Faith vs Science, or Faith vs Feelings as if they were like prize fighters battling it out for our very souls.
Maybe you think, “Really? I haven’t noticed that.”
Here’s a few quotes...
489There is nothing so deluding as feelings. Christians cannot live by feelings. Let me further tell you that these feelings are the work of Satan, for they are not right feelings. What right have you to set up your feelings against the word of Christ?—49.351
Charles Spurgeon
Luther was once asked, “Do you feel that you are a child of God this morning?” and he answered, “I cannot say that I do, but I know that I am.”
Martin Luther
1257 A Christian life based on feeling is headed for a gigantic collapse.
Erwin W. Lutzer
These are great men,
And I think these are not helpful quotes.
As Christians, we tend to trust our thoughts, our logic, our reason, but emotions…nope. Can’t trust those!
Were only our emotions harmed by sin?
What about someone who says
I don’t feel like God loves me, therefore I’m not going to church.
I don’t feel like my husband loves me, therefore I’m getting a divorce. Are we supposed to live by those feelings?
I don’t feel like going to church because I feel like I don’t belong.
Wait, do you feel like God doesn’t love me, or do you think that? Do you feel like your husband doesn’t love you, or you believe that? Do you feel like you don’t belong, or do you think that?
Even our language demonizes emotions as if they were the root of all evil when our thoughts and actions and words are all a part of the issue.
As Christians, we want all of our lives to be devoted to God.
Humans are complex people. You’re like a house. It’s full of systems. Plumbing system, electrical system, roof, walls, foundation…you’re not just one thing.
And as Christians, we talk a lot about the spiritual system a lot…how’s your faith, how’re your thoughts…but ignoring our emotions is like doing a home remodel and saying, “Yeah I know the pipes are leaking but those don’t matter anyways.”
You may not see it now, but it will have an effect.
Before we get too far ahead, what is an emotion?
Emotion has a latin root which means literally to move.
It’s something that gets us to act. It’s something that helps us construct meaning.
Think of it like this:
Stimulus (external or internal)
Stimulus (external or internal)
Rapid appraisal
Rapid appraisal
Body arousal
Body arousal
Attach meaning
Attach meaning
Behavior
Behavior
Reappraisal
Reappraisal
Example of laughter.
Emotions are a gift from God.
God made emotions.
God made emotions.
In the beginning,
God made humans. And he made them with fully functioning brains. They had a limbric system which stimulates emotions because God made us to act - to take his creation project onward. He gave us emotions to construct meaning and write narratives so we can live with clarity and purpose.
God experiences emotions.
God experiences emotions.
In Scripture,
God experiences a wide variety of emotions. He is not a emotionless FORCE, but a personal being. He has compassion, he grieves, he laughs at the nations in Psalm 2, he gets angry, he has affection, he sings with joy over his people.
Emotions, like every part of the universe, was harmed by sin.
Emotions, like every part of the universe, was harmed by sin.
Sin did not attack emotions and leave thoughts untouched.
Sin corrupts all the universe and God sent Jesus to redeem us as whole people.
Immediately after the fall we see one of the most powerful emotions appear: shame.
The importance of the “heart.”
The importance of the “heart.”
Scripture is an emotional rollercoaster.
Scripture is an emotional rollercoaster.
It starts with the Garden of Eden which means
Delight.
Sin brings shame, fear, sadness, despair.
God chooses Abraham and calls Israel the apple of his eye.
The Exile brings hopelessness, anger (just go read Psalm 137), confusion.
The Psalms are full of emotions - lament, hope, joy, anger.
All throughout Scripture there is the HOPE of the Messiah who is coming.
Paul summarizes so much of life in the current Now but not yet life with God when he says in 1 Cor we are always sorrowful, yet rejoicing.
And in the New Creation Jesus wipes away every tear from our eyes.
PAUSE
At Gateway, we want to hear, love, and obey Jesus.
Our goal is to not just do what he did, but to become like him.
Jesus was fully human and had a full range of comfortable and uncomfortable emotions.
Sometimes I picture Jesus like this...
But in Scripture we see Jesus experienced a normal emotional life.
He experienced comfortable emotions like...
Love
21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
Compassion
41 Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
Joy
21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
Astonishment
9 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”
He experienced uncomfortable emotions:
Grief
41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it,
Anger
14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Great distress
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.
38 Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”
Complex emotions
5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.
Okay but what about all those passages in Scripture that say, “Do not fear!”
Have you heard the saying, “There are 365 commands to not fear, one for every day of the year.”
Well, let’s look at two of the famous ones this morning and just see what might be going on here.
1 Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying,
2 “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.
3 “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.
4 “From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.
5 “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
7 “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.
8 “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Maybe you’re like me,
I read this and I see the two “Have I not commanded you?” And I picture God getting impatient, “Hey! Stop feeling afraid! Haven’t I commanded you? What’s wrong with you?”
Is that what’s going on?
Joshua is Moses’ successor as the leader of Israel.
God has graciously chosen him to lead the people into the Promised Land. The new Eden!
But Joshua knows it won’t be easy. He will have to fight to drive out evil so God’s people can have peace.
Joshua might be feeling trepidation, fear, anxiety, worry, along with some hope, excitement...
Is God asking Joshua to immediately cut off the cortozole that is racing through his body and feel a more comfortable emotion?
Or does God know that Joshua is feeling fear, and is inviting him to not be paralyzed by it but instead act to do what is right.
God is not asking Joshua to avoid fear, but to avoid sin and to act despite his fear. That’s courage!
Well what about this passage?
1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
At face value, we say, “Yes, do not feel troubled, rather have faith. Believe. Trust. If you feel troubled, cleraly you do not have enough faith. You’ve failed to trust God. You’re not believing.”
Well, again, what’s going on in the context of this passage?
Why did Jesus say this?
36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.”
37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”
38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.
Jesus tells the disciples, “I’m leaving!”
Peter wisely asks, “Where are you going?”
Jesus says, “You can’t come.”
Peter’s heart races. Is it hot in here? Panic sets in! “Lord, I’ll go to the end of the earth for you! I’ll die for you!”
Jesus then says, “No you won’t, actually, you’re going to completely fail and be totally ashamed.”
Does Peter have a reason to be troubled? Yes! And, let’s even go a little further back...
21 When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.”
Wait a second, Jesus said don’t be troubled! How does that work?
What is Jesus saying in our first text, John 14:1? He’s saying, “Peter, I know you’re troubled. I’ve told you I’m leaving, that’s confusing, I’ve told you about your failure, and that’s scary. And hear me out.”
2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
Jesus is not asking them to turn off their brains and command the unconscious systems of their bodies to stop functioning. He’s saying, “Your fear is real, and that doesn’t mean it’s realistic.” I’m going to take care of you.
The good news of the gospel is that Jesus understands.
He experienced the full range of comfortable and uncomfortable emotions.
Gospel
17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
He was one of us. Therefore, he can truly atone for our sins and the full brokenness of humanity.
He is our example. And he gives us his spirit so we can live like him!
Christians have the advantage on emotional health.
Because we have the Holy Spirit who quite literally gives us a new heart, a new brain, a new Spirit!
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
So what do we do? How do we grow?
Don’t shoot the messenger.
Don’t shoot the messenger.
Emotions are messengers.
They’re like the person shouting, “Fire!”
Do you say, “Stop yelling! Go away!” You say, “Thanks for letting me know, I’m going to go deal with that fire.
The goal is not to avoid emotions, but use them.
Sometimes my mind yells, “Fire!” And I say, “Oh no!” But then I look into and go, “No, it’s not a fire, deep breaths. It’s okay.”
Sometimes my mind yells, “Fire!” And there is a fire, and I say, “Nah, it’s fine.” And then bad things happen.
Let’s not demonize emotions, but use them as guides to Christlikeness.
Jesus was troubled! But in our trouble, be faithful. In our fear, have courage. In our anger, do not sin. When we experience shame, turn to Jesus.
Welcome emotions.
Welcome emotions.
Feelings are not sinful and sanctified.
Some are certainly comfortable and uncomfortable.
Grow in awareness of emotions to grow in Christlikeness.
You can’t fix the broken pipe if you don’t know it’s leaking. You can’t put out the fire if you don’t listen to the person shouting, “Fire!”
Emotions are gifts from God to drive us to act for our joy, the good of others, and the glory of God.
They allow us to make meaning of our lives. To laugh. To love. To run to action, to grieve.
Communion
Consider this:
What if God wants to use your feelings to grow your faith?