Honest Reactions

Lasts Forever?

One of the more frustrating, angering, hurtful things in life is when something you thought would last forever, doesn’t.

My last vehicle. You remember that silver GMC I drove last year? I bought it a year after we moved here. It was 1-year old, used, only 22K miles.

When you drive around MP, almost all the miles you put on your car are highway miles. They’re the best ones. Little stop and go traffic. No stop lights. We drive to Flagstaff for the stores and doctors. And we drive to PHX to see our kids.

Then, one day, the engine starts making a noise. My mechanic says the engine is toast. And I’ve got to spend a lot of money on a newer, used vehicle. Now, I’m driving a Toyota 4Runner.

I was frustrated. Angry. Stressed. I bought it b/c it was highly rated by the publications that rate used vehicles. It wasn’t cheap back in 2016. I had planned to drive that GMC a number of years. I took care of it. Regular maintenance. Oil changes. And anything newer is even more expensive!

Has that happened to you where you have a plan, a budget, you make what you think is a wise decision. Then, it breaks. Maybe not your car. Maybe it was an appliance. How frustrating and stressful it is when things don’t last that we were counting on lasting a long time.

My first ministry job. I was fresh out of seminary in 1990. A little idealistic and maybe a little too arrogant. I had been trained to be the bible answer man. I bel’d I could answer every question everyone had ever come up w/ and even a few no one had thought of, yet. Just ask. I would amaze you w/ my skills and knowledge.

I went into that job believing I could retire there. I was 30 at the time. Maybe a little too naive. God used that church to teach me a lot about the politics and people of church ministry. Yes, I knew a lot about the bible. I knew how to study to get the answers I didn’t have yet. But, what I didn’t know was how to lead ppl who were not on the same page.

They were skeptical of a young seminary grad. And, some were even hostile given the history of that church.

That was difficult and emotional time early in my career. It was hard on Sara, too. In fact, she’ll tell you, she said if this is what church ministry is going to be like, then we need to find a different career.

I knew God led me there. He had something for me there. My plan was to stay there. His plan was to use that as part of my continuing education that would lead me here, eventually.

BTW, this is the longest I’ve been at any church. I think I probably will be able to stay here until I retire.

Most all of us have stood at an altar like this in a church and made a promise to act like we love 1 person above all others until death do us part. That’s forever.

And then, something happens along the way, and we begin to question the forever part of that promise.

Some have experienced that personally. Maybe you watched a close friend, who married about the same time you did, who discovered a forever promise, maybe didn’t last forever.

Or, our children, or grandchildren go thru it.

Is there a more emotion-evoking thing to respond to than the end of a marriage?

I lived it as a child. Raised by a single mom. My dad left. I saw him 3 or 4 times before he died in ‘85. My grandparents did not hide their emotions toward him. He had more than one affair.

Anger. Hurt. Frustration. Financial stress. All the emotions that go along w/ it.

How old were you when your body started to fall apart? Some of you may not be there, yet. Get ready.

In my 60s, I have seen more doctors for more serious issues than the rest of my life combined. A cancer diagnosis. I’m keeping an eye on w/ my Mayo doctors. This sinus infection I’ve been dealing w/

A strep infection in the tissue of my sinuses. It wasn’t just a sinus infection. Strep that close to my brain. And Jim Burnett will tell you a strep infection that went dormant, then came back w/ a vengeance, took his dad.

My BP is high thru all this. And, throw in an incredibly painful bout of gout back in the spring.

All of my stuff after Sara was diagnosed, but healed by God, of cancer in her thyroid a few years ago.

It wasn’t that long ago I believe I was going to live forever. I was going to be the only person ever to die healthy. I told you that. That’s why I exercise. So I can die healthy.

Well, guess what. I haven’t been able to exercise much at all this year due to all the other stuff I’ve had to deal w/

It’s frustrating. Stressful as it all piled up. Cancer. A nagging infection that won’t clear up that could get serious.

I’m not complaining. I’m grateful for the health I have. I’m just being honest w/ you about the feelings it stirs inside me.

But all that said, wait a minute God, I’m not supposed to have to deal w/ this stuff. I never have before. I’ve been on that path of perfect health until I die. Why am I having to deal w/ this now?

Then, there’s the added wrinkle of the pressure we may feel to always be positive b/c, you know, Jesus. Oh joy always. I just totaled my car. Isn’t Jesus great.

We want the ppl around us to want what we have, or Who we have. And we want to experience the peace, patience, joy, courage, power, and self-control ourselves. And want them to, too.

And, yet, some of things we go thru legitimately will rock our world and take us into dark places even though we are walking in the Light. What do we do all this.

We feel things. We feel pressure to be positive. We feel pressure to be a positive influence in lives of those around us. And life takes into negative places. How do we manage this?

Some of those around us are skeptical of Jesus, Xians, and our faith. Some are outright hostile and seem to challenge every statement, belief, and feeling we have.

We are in a passage in Luke where Jesus addresses his disciples, not just the 12, but all of his followers, about the characteristics we can honestly and legitimately exhibit when interacting w/ our culture.

How do we interact w/ a culture that is at best skeptical, and at worst hostile, toward us, what we believe, what we feel, and Who we believe in?

This is part of a longer passage in Luke 12.

But the first 12 verses give us 4 characteristics that we can honestly exhibit as we live our lives, go some dark places, while we walk in the Light and deal with a difficult situations and people around us.

The 1st characteristic is this. We can live honestly, with integrity and consistency between our public life and our private life.

Integrity

Luke 12:1–3 NIV

Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

If you were w/ us last week, you may recall Jesus got Himself invited over to a Pharisee’s home for a meal. There were other Pharisees there and scribes. These were 2 leadership groups among the Jews.

They invited Jesus over to try to entrap Him, to give them reason to accuse Him. But he turned the tables on them and accused them of doing things wrong. He woe’d them, 6 times. “Woe to you…”

Next, He turned to his followers and addressed them. The tensions were rising. The Jewish leadership was becoming increasingly hostile toward Jesus and those who chose to become followers of His.

Many in the crowd were just happy that someone was standing up to the Jewish leadership and stirring things up. In the crowd of followers were those who believed as well and fringe curiosity seekers was growing into the thousands.

This caused even more problems w/ the leadership as they realized they were losing their grip of control on the ppl. Whether the ppl bel’d in Jesus or not, they were leaving the camp of the temple and synagogues for this new, revolutionary organization.

Jesus had just called out the hypocrisy of the Jewish leadership. They publicly, outwardly claimed to be with God. But privately they spoke and lived their lives in opposition to God. The said they accepted God and His law but they rejected Jesus whom the law pointed directly to.

They led a double life. They cleaned up the outside nicely. But their inside was still wicked and corrupt. Which, of course, messed up their outside, too.

So, He warned his followers to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.

Yeast. You know how yeast works, it effectively aerates the lump of dough. Yeast is what caused the dough to rise by creating air bubbles. Just one little packet introduced in one little section of the lump of dough and kneaded into it, will aerate the entire lump of dough.

It works its way throughout the whole thing.

Hypocrisy will do the same to the entire life of the hypocrite. It will corrupt areas of life that had nothing to do w/ where it was introduced. If you are caught saying things in private that are inconsistent w/ what you are saying and doing in public, then that inconsistency will indicate a deeper problem.

Most all of us are not like the Pharisees, in that the HS has cleaned us up on the inside. Once we come to faith, the HS baptizes us inside, makes us different on the inside, we are new creations w/ new life.

That said, our old outward ways tend to stick w/ us for a while.

So, our hypocrisy would be more like appearing to be more filled w/ joy, more patient, more self-controlled, more powerful and courageous than we are privately when venting to our closest friends.

We want to appear more spiritually mature, closer to Christ, than we actually are.

Another way it shows up is when we are not honest w/ what we are feeling, thinking, or believing. We give appearance we’re feeling okay, but in reality, we’re in a dark place in life. Even though as a believer we walk in the Light, we can find ourselves in dark places from time to time.

And, our integrity can be tested. Will we be honest publicly about how we truly feel about the situ we’re in?

Dark places cause dark feelings, but they should not be debilitating nor overwhelming. So, honesty means admitting we’re in a dark place, but we also believe we’ll get out of it soon enough.

Don’t fake it till you make it. Don’t pretend your feelings are better than they are. Once you’re honest w/ yourself about how you feel, you an be honest w/ Jesus about it, and then He can help you overcome the darkness.

If you don’t admit to yourself where you really are, then you’re not going to admit to God where you are really.

Those around you, who know you, will see thru your attempts to pretend you are better than you are.

If you think you’re hiding something from God, then think again. You may be hiding things from the ppl around you. But, then someone might be blabbing what they really know about you.

And, God will bring to light, eventually, what you thought you kept in the dark. You may as well admit it now, come clean, and let God lead you to overcome what you’re hiding.

The first characteristic believers must exhibit in a culture that is at best skeptical of what Jesus really did and will do for us, is integrity. Make sure your private life is consistent w/ your public life.

The second characteristic is no fear of anything that has no power after the grave.

No Fear

Luke 12:4–7 NIV

“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

For this audience, Jesus knew what was going to happen to him in the next few months; and what was going to happen to his followers for the years after that are written about in the book of Acts and after.

There were 2 or 3 consecutive emperors in Rome who are on record for persecuting and being responsible for the deaths of thousand of Xians in the colosseum. They were guilty of the crime of not worshiping the emperor. A capital offense.

There were ppl who would be active and intentional about ending their life on earth.

Here, Jesus points out that God cares more about his ppl than He does His birds. Sparrows were the least expensive things in the marketplace. These birds were the cheapest. The people were the most expensive. Jesus paid for us w/ His life.

We do not need to fear things that can only end our life on earth. We should only respectfully fear the One who has the authority and power to extend our life after this one on earth; or not.

The word for Hell here is Gehenna. That was named after a ravine they used as the dump just south and west of Jerusalem. That’s where they dumped their trash, and dead criminals, and it burned constantly. There was no more grotesque place known to man.

The smell and heat were overwhelming. That’s the place Jesus has the authority and power to send those who never come to faith after they leave this life.

Respect Jesus and his ability to make your eternity either miserable or glorious.

I’ve said it. You may have said it, too. You’ve certainly heard it. “I’m not afraid of ending my life here. I’m afraid of what will do it b/c it may hurt.”

When Jesus don’t be afraid of who, or what, can end your life, 2 things follow.

First, there are lots of other emotions they may stir.

Second, no one, nothing but God has the power and authority to do anything to you after the grave.

God is not promising to protect your physical life. He is promising to protect you spiritual and eternal life. Something is going to take each one of us from this life. But this life is not even the first chapter of our book. It’s not the preface. It’s nothing compared to the book that’s going to be written about our life for all eternity.

How long is life? Think of an eternal timeline from left to right. It goes on forever.

Now think of your life span here on earth during that eternal timeline. How closely can you put your fingers together w/out touching.

Do not fear what will end this life. It might hurt. There may be some stress. There may be some financial issues that follow. It may take you to a dark place.

Then, let the first characteristic be seen throughout your life. W/ integrity, admit your concern. Admit it’s a hard place to be. But then admit, the next place you find yourself will be gloriously better than where you are right now.

I have asked several of you this question when you shared with me a tough diagnosis. And, please remember that both Sara and I have had tough diagnoses. The question is.

“Are you living, or are you dying?” That is question that needs to be answered even if your healthy.

Are you living for X? Or, are you biding your time until you die?

The second characteristic is, if you know Who will deliver you to the next life forever, then no fear of what may take you from this life.

The 3rd characteristic is a strong and deep faith in Jesus that prompts us to declare our faith publicly.

Complete Faith in Christ

Luke 12:8–10 NIV

“I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

Right away, you see the first 2 characteristics in this one, too. Declaring publicly and privately your faith in Jesus. And, Jesus’ authority and power to deliver you into your eternal existence based on this kind of faith, or lack-thereof.

Do you privately declare your faith in Jesus, but publicly at your parties, w/ your friends, putting your reputation on the line; declare that same faith?

Do you publicly declare faith in Jesus but privately have a double life that few, if any know about?

These Xians would be put on the spot by the emperors of Rome. The 12 discs were put on the spot by various leaders and officials.

This is the main argument that led Chuck Colson to Christ. He was an atheist, fixer, ruthless problem solver for President Richard Nixon during Watergate.

There were 12 men who ran the conspiracy for Nixon. In preparation of being arrested, they all got their story straight.

When a Xian friend reached out to Colson to help him reclaim his life after he had ruined it in this sorry affair, what struck him most was the difference in how the 2 sets of 12 men responded when pressured publicly to recant.

The Watergate 12 could not maintain their story for 2 weeks under the threat of prison.

The Jesus 12 stuck to their story in its entirety, detail for detail, under the threat and eventual carried out martyrdom and cruel execution.

If you were and publicly questioned, would you maintain your testimony that you are a devoted follower of Christ, full of a complete faith? Or would you fold like a cheap tent?

Can you stand in front of your skeptical friends, even hostile friends, while you’re out at the club, in a bar, in a situ that you know Jesus would not want you to be in; could you walk away from your friends and back to Jesus? Or, would you walk away from Jesus to stay w/ your friends to avoid the public ridicule?

It doesn’t mean we never speak against Jesus. But as a way of life, do we publicly and privately acknowledge our faith in Jesus.

Remember, Peter famously denied Jesus publicly at the worst possible time. But Jesus forgave Him and restored him.

But then, there is 1 unforgiveable sin. Jesus said here it is blaspheming the HS. What does that mean? Who does that?

Jesus preached powerful sermons to explain to us who He is, what He came to do, and why need for Him to do it for us. And, He performed powerful miracles to prove what He said is true. He did all of that through the power of the HS. The HS testified, thru his messages and miracles, of the authenticity of Christ.

Blaspheming the HS is to deny His testimony about Jesus.

Simply put, the only unforgivable sin is unbelief. Not believing the testimony of the HS, believing He is lying, or believing Jesus never said or did those things means not believing in Jesus.

This is the only sin that God will not forgive.

Maintain a complete, full faith in Christ. Like Peter wrote, it will be tested repeatedly over time. But if you stick to it, it will stick to you, too. Your faith will be proved genuine.

The fourth characteristic; total Trust in God to provide what we need when we need it.

Total Trust in God

Luke 12:11–12 NIV

“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

Always trust God to provide exactly what you need when you need it. The words for a difficult conversation or confrontation.

The strength and courage to stay and stand.

The patience to calmly approach the difficult situ.

The self-control to be able to limit that damage and not make matters worse.

If we fear what takes us from this life, then we may be questioning God’s ability or willingness to provide what we need in that moment.

We probably don’t have what need for that situation today. But we’re not in it.

God is never late w/ His provision. And He is rarely early. Whatever you need, when you need it. it will be there.

Ultimately we know there will be tough times in this life. None tougher than when this life is coming to an end for us or someone we love. But in those moments we can be sure that God is well aware of what we’re going thru and ready and able to help us maintain, sustain, and praise Him thru it.

Cars die and inopportune times. Jobs come to an end, sometimes by our choice and sometimes by the boss’s choice. Marriages can come to an end when promises are broken.

In each of these cases the pain is real. The struggle is real.

Whenever you read in your bible about the power that God makes available to you, like in Eph. 1 where Paul wrote that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead resides in us; then you must ask the question why do we have that kind of power available to us?

B/C we’ll need it.

Even tho’ we walk in the Light, life will take us into dark places. That does not mean the darkness lasts forever. We always have hope and know that it will get better.

The four characteristics in our life illustrate that for us, and anybody else who’s watching. They may be skeptical or even hostile. But they cannot deny what they see in us is real when we exhibit all the best in the worst of times.

Jesus died for us so we can live for him. Are you living? Or, are you dying? These are four characteristics of those who are very much alive.

Applications

Integrity

Are you the same in public as you are in private. What needs to change for you to be consistent throughout your life?

No fear

Is there something you are afraid of? Are you afraid of losing this life? Remember, the next life is about a million times better. Don’t fear anything that has no power over you past the grave.

Full faith

Do you have full faith in Jesus. Do you believe in Who He is, what He did, and why He had to do it for you? If your faith is lacking in any of these areas, then today shore it up. Choose to have faith over your fear.

Total Trust

Are you afraid God will not come thru for you when you need it? Are you trying to figure out on your own what you need to do in your toughest situations? Stop trying on your own. Relax. It will be there when you need it. God is never late but rarely early and always on time. Trust God to provide what you need exactly when you need it.

How do we interact w/ a culture that is at best skeptical, and at worst hostile, toward us, what we believe, what we feel, and Who we believe in?

Ultimately we know there will be tough times and dark places we go in this life. None tougher than when this life is coming to an end for us or someone we love. But in those moments we can be sure that God is well aware of what we’re going thru and ready and able to help us maintain, sustain, and praise Him thru it.

Cars die and inopportune times. Jobs come to an end, sometimes by our choice and sometimes by the boss’s choice. Marriages can come to an end when promises are broken.

In each of these cases the pain is real. The struggle is real.

The four characteristics in our life illustrate that for us, and anybody else who’s watching. They may be skeptical or even hostile. But they cannot deny what they see in us is real when we exhibit all the best in the worst of times.

Jesus gave us 4 characteristics that we can honestly exhibit as we live our lives, even going into some dark places, while we walk in the Light and deal with a difficult situations and people around us.