It was all a dream - sowing tears, reaping joy
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
Big Idea:
Big Idea:
Tears are God’s process for producing joyful dreams.
Intro:
Intro:
Good morning church…
Today is our last sermon in short series called, “It was all a dream.” It’s a series based on Psalm 126. It’s been a series that’s hopefully instructed and/or refined our expectations as God’s people. This is important because we (Christians) are supposed to be “lights in the darkness.” We are supposed to be beacons of hope in a broken world.
The apostle Peter (one of the first followers of Jesus) said…
Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.
Because of Jesus, we should be people who are different. People of hope. And others should see this, and ask, “Tell me about what’s different.” For whatever reason, I think the church struggles with this. And it is my belief that if God is going to use us to change New England, we have to change first.
Like we’ve seen the past 3 weeks in this psalm, God’s people have hope because of God’s promise of restoration - His promise to make things right! People with an expectation that God will move in such a way that we can’t even believe it - it’s almost like we’re dreaming!
Don’t get me wrong, His restoration (and promise of it) doesn’t exempt us from trials, tears, or sin’s consequences. We know this. The people of the church suffer right alongside everyone else. What’s unique is we understand (by faith) that the truth is… God strategically uses difficulty for our good. Therefore, when we experience bad things, we don’t lose hope. Instead, we expect joy to be on the horizon!
Let me give you an example…
… Btw, this is how I know God created everything. Because His strategic processes are seen not only in our lives, but also written into other parts of creation…
Now, I’m not much of a wine drinker. I’m not against wine. And yes, Jesus did drink wine. And yes, it was alcoholic, though it was also different than it is today. Anyways, I once heard an illustration regarding the quality of wine that I think mirrors the truth of God using difficulty for good…
Apparently, some of the best wine in the world is farmed in the most difficult places. The harsh environments and tough soil produce the best qualities. There’s a lot of reasons why (roots strength, nutrients, water absorption), stuff I’m not super knowledgable about, so I don’t want to speak to deeply on it. But here’s the point… Wine developed in difficult soil produces better products.
Additionally, there is also the law of sowing and reaping God built into creation. This process states that certain kinds of effort produces a proportional amount of result.
If you sow apple seeds, you reap apple trees.
If you invest in evil, your life will be given to evil.
You reap what you sow.
Some people have observed this process and call it karma. I don’t believe in karma, especially the technical definition. But I do believe in God’s natural law of reaping and sowing. What you plant (what you invest in) will directly impact your results.
And when we consider these things together, they help us understand something we find discussed in…
Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.
God has built into creation this law of sowing and reaping. He’s also chosen to use difficult circumstances to produce good things. Here, God makes a promise to His people, “those who sow in tears SHALL reap with shouts of joy.”
Now, at first, there seems to be a contradiction in the sowing and reaping equation. Usually, the reaping is consistent with the sowing…
Apple seeds produce apple trees.
Bad decisions produce bad results.
But here, tears (usually associated with sadness) produce joy.
How does that work? I think that’s a big conversation. Bigger than what we have time for right now. Maybe a question for discussion in Life Group. Anyways, here’s one way I’d answer that question…
God (the Creator of all things) gets to choose how His laws work. The most basic expression of sowing in reaping is simply cause and effect. Something impacts something else. And that’s happening in this verse…
sowing tears (the cause) results in reaping joy (the effect).
And while most of the time, God generally writes His laws with a sense of both predictability and consistency, He is not obligated to do so.
He can choose to do things - what we call - supernaturally. Sometimes His laws can produce something that is not natural.
The only thing God cannot do is deny Himself. Meaning, He will not do anything that is sinful, unloving, or not good.
Because by definition and revelation…
God is holy (He is pure and without sin)…
And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
God is love…
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
And, God is good…
The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
So, although sowing in tears resulting in shouts of joy seems contradictory, we can trust it because it’s both consistent with God’s law and His character.
If you’re struggling to understand this, don’t worry, you’re in good company. The disciples - the same ones who ended up changing the world - felt the same way…
Body:
Body:
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
A few things…
Jesus absolutely loved this family. They were some of his closest friends.
This family worshiped the Lord. They belonged in His family.
Something bad happens. Lazarus is very sick. It’s a potential occasion for tears.
But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Jesus says something confusing. Not uncommon.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
Again, confirming His love for this family.
So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Jesus does something confusing. If Jesus is the Savior - the Son of God, able to the impossible, including healing people, which He has done multiple times before. Why does He wait when someone He loves is in trouble?
…skip forward in the story a little bit…
Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
Again, confusing. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t seem to be consistent with who Jesus is. He’s glad His best friend died?
Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
I know it’s a lot of reading. Stick with me. It’s worth it. There’s a purpose…
When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
Again… nothing is making sense. Why is God doing things this way? Even to the point where Jesus Himself is in tears! Let’s keep reading…
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
Somebody say, “I want to see the glory of God!”
So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,
There is so much in this passage, but here’s what we can focus on… we can trust God with His plans, even if they don’t make sense to us. Even if they involve difficulty. Because His ways are better. They produce abundant harvests of joy, even if they started with and required tears!
Btw, I would highly recommend watching The Chosen, Season 4, episode 7, which involves this scene!
But Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is an excellent example of the latter part of Psalm 126.
Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.
Life is hard. This world is broken. But God is good. And His promises are true. And we can trust His ways and have a hopeful expectation, even when our circumstances include pain, suffering, and tears. Because in the Kingdom of God, difficulty does not diminish or disqualify the promises of God in our lives. In fact, they are leading to a greater experience of joy and glory than we could dream of!
And for the remainder of our time together, I’d like to spend a few minutes studying these final three verses in hope of helping us trust God’s difficult but divine promises!
Exegete v4: Here we are, again, Lord. Then, he says, “Like streams in the Negeb/desert.” Why write this?
Streams in the desert could be a simple word picture but it can also be deeper. Here’s what I think about. Isa 43. We make idols out of the past or personal preferences. God is not limited by either. He is faithful and consistent to who He is, but who He is and what He can do is bigger than we can imagine, more than our dreams.
Including myself. I like routine and if there is change, I like to pick what the new thing is. That’s not how God gets down. That’s idolatry.
Seems impossible: There’s no water/life here.
Seen it before: Flash floods bringing water. Where there is water, there is life. Faithfulness. Experience brings understanding (2 Cor 1).
Leads to Isa 43: God doing a new thing that results in praise or God’s glory. “Just watch!” Bad things don’t negate God’s promises. A future harvest of joy is secure. Do you trust Him?
vv. 5-6: The Lord’s mysterious process. Repeated for emphasis. v5 is really an act of faith. Will you believe God will take care of you when there’s nothing visible to start with. All that’s there is a promise. I will restore you. There will come a day when you come home with a joyful harvest. And it will be like you’re dreaming.
Shapes us - strengthens (lift to failure).
Access to “deep wells.” Can’t be found anywhere else but in suffering.
Deep wells (like wine) lead to better fruit. God’s got something better for you - like a dream!
Tears are powerful.
Josh found deep wells in the field of suffering he couldn't' find anywhere else. Farming in the desert seems foolish. It's foolish to dream in the desert, but like the Negeb, the desert places are where we see the impossible. It's where God changes everything in an instant in the same way the streams change the desert in the garden.
What does a desert look like in my life?
What does streams look like?
Looks foolish to break up the group desert.
(Intro) Tears - lifting to failure strengthens muscles.
Arthur last week - cancer led them to Christ. Cancer is not trivial. It’s not a joke. But neither is salvation in Christ. It’s eternal life. Small price to pay for everlasting life (restoration).
God know what our hard hearts need in order to be receptive to restoration.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Response:
Response:
TRC - new wine. Tears = better harvest. Not attendance, but revival. Will you believe to see the glory of God (Jn 11).
Plant in the desert even if the only water you have to start with are tears.
In God’s economy, tears lead to Tsunamis. Seashore. You must step in deeper. What step do you need to take?