When Chaos Calls
Notes
Transcript
Prayer
This week we are talking about getting our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
There’s nothing like a good pair of shoes. You know what I’m talking about. There are shoes designed for particular purpose.
You know when my wife and I were dating and even in the very formative years of our marriage walk, I never understood why she would punish her feet with uncomfortable shoes all because, “They look nice”
One evening in a “nice” pair of shoes and she was barely walking for the next week.
Her feet were fitted with something that didn’t fit right and would cut into her heals and cause much turmoil and pain. I never got that, and I still don’t. I want something on my feet that is going to help me do the job that I need to do.
If I am going to go spend a long day out in the woods, I’m not going to wear a pair of flip flops, or my Sunday best, I am going to wear my specialized hunting boots that have 800 grams of Thinsulate in them to keep my feet dry, warm and comfy all day out there.
Nothing slows you down as much as being fitted with the wrong type of shoes!
As a church we are called to a mission:
Our greatest mission is to advance the kingdom of God. To lift up the name of Christ and witness to others about the change he has made in our lives.
Matthew 28:18-20 - “Go and Make…”
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
But that is not going to happen if Satan has stolen our peace.
Satan’s Strategy: Chaos
is to create chaos in our lives in order to keep us disengaged from the mission
Satan’s Attacks- 1st Attack: Steal Your Peace - Anxiety/Worry
He is going to try and rob you of your peace. If you don’t have it, you are unable to advance the kingdom because your stuck.
Jesus warns us about this tactic of Satan in John 10:7-10
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
“The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.”
If he has your peace, if he can take your focus off Christ and place it on yourself, then he has successfully deployed this tactic and now your stuck.
Some of us get so stuck that we start to own the misery, we start to identify with the chaos. We have fallen pray to anxiety.
I want to make some things clear here this morning as we get started.
#1) I am not a medical doctor and I am not talking about the type of anxiety that is caused by chemical imbalances. I am talking today about general anxiousness. Because something is off. Both Millenials and Generation Z have been dubbed the most anxious generations yet. And now, as Generation Alpha rises, we too see anxiety rising to levels that have never before been documented.
So something is off. People in general are more anxious than ever, more fearful than ever, and we now how abbreviations for different fears…
FOMO….Fear of Missing Out
FOMO… Fear of Better Options
FOGO… Fear of Going Out
FONO- Fear Of Normal
Yes, something is amiss and I would say it’s more spiritual than medical.
We are caught in the devils snare and can’t see a way out.
I can’t deal with this…
I’m not enough
I’m not good enough
I can’t take you right now
I…I…I…I
The problem is we have taken our view off of the source of our peace and given in to the temptation to look at ourselves, our issues, our inadequacy and we call it
MY ANXIETY
We have taken full ownership when we start catching ourselves using this language…
Anxiety was never yours to own, peace is.
Jesus promised us…
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Because we need to realize that…
Anxiety itself is not sin. Worry itself is not sin. But if anxiety/worry keeps you from God’s will then it becomes sin.
Jesus in the Garden.
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
The Lord himself had anxious thoughts…Anxiety was attacking him yet he didn’t let it stop him from
Jesus came to give us life and give it to the full. Paul writes it this way in Ephesians 2:10-18
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Starting in Verse 10- We are saved to become God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. - We are not only called to advance, but you are God’s masterpiece, and God doesn’t build junk.
11-12: We were separated, our relationship with God was broken
-without hope, without God in our world
13: But the blood of Christ has brought us near.
14: He himself is our peace. Remember it is a fruit of the Spirit, The Spirit manifests the very presence of Christ within us and brings us his peace because it brings us him.
16: We have been reconciled by the cross
We have peace with God because Christ reconciled us with God…
God has forgiven us from all of our failures, our inadequacy, our sin and our shame. By the blood of Christ, you can have peace with God and this peace is a peace that surpasses all understanding.
Even in the midst of the darkest valleys, you now have a good shepherd who walks with you. But you need to keep your eyes focused on Him. He is our peace when we let him be our peace.
1 Peter 5:6-9 - Who’s at the center?
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Anxiety might just be a pride issue.
You need to humble yourself under his mighty power, when we take the focus of ourselves and our inadequacy or our situations or our issues, or our children, or our job and give those things back to him, the creator and sustainer of life, then he will lift us up.
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Peter and the boys were in a boat and Jesus was taking a little nap when a violent storm came,
“Teacher, don’t you care?”
“Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Pastor Joe you have no idea how bad this anxiety is!
Your right, I don’t… but I do know what the truth of Scriptures say and they say…
We need to Buckle up with the truth…
That we are more than conquered through Christ.
That our God is able to calm the storms
In this world there will be trouble, but we are to take heart because Jesus has overcome the world.
We tell God how big…
And that we need to take our focus off ourselves and the giants in front of us and place our faith in Christ, who is our peace.
And if you are living out this peace with God and do not struggle with fear or anxiety, Satan has another plan of attack that we need to have the shoes of readiness on for:
2nd Attack: Division in the Body
If the gospel is to advance, if we are going to make disciples of all nations then we need to be doing it together.
Satan knows this very well so he will do whatever he can to cause division in the body because if he can keep us fighting against each other then we be ineffective in sharing the gospel. We are fighting the wrong battle.
We need to be fighting the good fight of faith against the powers and principalities and we need one another to do this!
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Paul urges the Ephesian believers to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Why would he do that? Well I truly believe that’s because it is a hard thing to do…when you live in community and fellowship with others, at some point they are going to hurt you…intentionally or accidentally.
We can respond in anger but without sinning. Anger by itself is not sin, but if we leave anger unchecked and don’t resolve it the proper way, then it is a sin just like the original offense was a sin.
Bond of Peace…I have been given peace with God through the forgiveness of my sin
You have been given peace with God through the forgiveness of sin.
The CROSS is the agent, the way that we have been given this bond. Our old self had to die on that cross with Christ in order to receive peace in order to be reconciled with God.
Colossians 1:19-20 “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
We are forgiven but we also need to forgive ya’ll.
Satan’s trap is to keep you stuck in anger against a brother or sister in Christ so that you stay stuck, not advancing the kingdom…
But the shoes of readiness that Paul talks about, when strapped on your feet allow give you the power to get unstuck.
Once we have received forgiveness and know that peace that surpasses all understanding we are able to do amazing things, like forgive someone who does not deserve your forgiveness…
Conquering Chaos-
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“ ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Anxiousness comes from worry and not being grateful for what God has already done.
You are a new creation. You have been given a new nature. You are God’s handiwork, masterpiece…created in Christ to do Good works!
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
We are called to extend forgiveness. But you don’t have to do it alone…call out to Christ to help you forgive that person and strive for the bond of unity.