What Is The Matter

The matter is most Christians do not comprehend just how good God is

There are a lot of things that are the matter.

Having millions of illegals in our country is a problem

Especially when millions of them are Muslim.

That’s not going to work out well.

Having people in the government who go in office paupers and come out multi-millionaires, that’s a problem.

It’s a problem that someone can make laws for me and you and they’ve never held a private sector job in their life.

How is that a possibility?

The framers of the constitution never dreamed politics would be a career path.

It’s a problem to me that congress is exempted from many of our laws.

They messed up healthcare, but they don’t have to participate.

It’s a problem to me that people cheat in elections

I’m one of those that believe something really crazy happened in 2020.

It’s a problem that the COVID cost us the trust of science, medicine and the government.

They all lied to us.

All of these things are matters, but they are not the matter.

This topic came to me over a month ago, and I had an idea of where I thought it would go

But as we got closer to today and I prayed more about it, the Lord led me to a verse and as I read it, I heard in my heart, “Randy, here is the problem.”

So let’s start with this.

One of the most annoying things in the world is to have someone who has never done something tell me how to do something.

I saw a little book recently that I thought might help me a bit

So I checked out the author.

He’d never done what he was writing about.

He was putting himself forward as an expert

When all he was, was an expert in his own mind.

There is an ad that keeps popping up when I’m on youtube.

It’s this really ripped older Asian dude

He’s standing there with no shirt and the dude is ripped - every muscle well defined.

He looks like something right out of a Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movie.

A woman is asking him a question - “My husband is going to a trainer at the gym, but nothing seems to be working for him.

“Do you have any tips?

The ripped Asian dude says, “How old is your husband?

The woman says, “62”

Then he asked, “How old is his trainer?”

“26”

The ripped Asian dude said, “I thought so”

“Your husband is getting fitness advice from a man who has never awaken in the morning with joint and back pain.”

“He doesn’t know what it’s like to get out of bed stiff and hurting.”

The trainer is an expert - but when it comes to older men - he really doesn’t have a clue.

You know we drive God crazy doing that, right?

Remember Yahweh using these words in Exodus 32:9 “And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.”

Stiff-necked.

Hard-headed.

Headstrong.

Obstinate.

Experts on things they know nothing about.

So, what is the matter?

The matter is, humans keep trying to tell their Creator how He should be running things

When really, we should be listening to Him to see how He wants things to be running.

Our text today is the second chapter of 1 Corinthians.

While you are finding it, let me speak to the kids for a moment.

You may have heard someone say they are making a new year’s resolution

That’s a fancy way of saying, “I’m going to do something better next year than I did this year.”

Usually they talk about losing weight or exercising more.

Yeah, no, most of us who say those things don’t do those things.

However, kids, I want to offer you a challenge for 2026.

I want to ask you to resolve to pray 5 minutes every day.

If you can’t think of anything to pray about, simply say, “Lord, I’m going to sit here very quietly for the next five minutes.

“Lord, if you want to, please speak to me.”

Now, I’m 99% certain you aren’t going to hear a voice.

And it might be a while before you hear anything.

But I promise one day, if you will do this, one day you’ll know that the Lord spoke to you.

His Holy Spirit is a still, small voice.

And we have to be still and quiet to hear it.

Get started now listening for him because the older you get, the noisier life gets.

As I preach today, listen for Jesus’ name.

We all want to grow up to be like Jesus.

Having your Bibles open, this is a rather long passage but I want you to hear the entire thought

So, Hear now the Word of the Lord from 1 Corinthians 2:1-16

1 Corinthians 2:1–16 ESV

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Let us pray:

Dear heavenly Father,

Thank you for your infinite patience with us.

We act like we know everything and we cause all kinds of problems for ourselves and those around us.

We cause you to wait on us, when we should be waiting on you.

Have mercy on us Lord and help us to hear you clearly today, in Jesus’ name. Amen

We have four points and the first point is:

What is the problem?

Look down at verses 14-16 1 Corinthians 2:14–16 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

Instead of folly, some of you are reading the word, foolishness.

I like that better.

In our world, the things of God are foolishness to people who do not believe.

Hell is a construct to keep people from misbehaving.

Jesus wasn’t born of a virgin because no one can be naturally born that way.

Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead because no one has ever come back from the dead.

These are foolish things.

And Jesus says such counterintuitive things:

Luke 6:35 ESV

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Love my enemies who are out to hurt me.

Lend my stuff and don’t ever expect it back.

While we know the Lord said things like this, when confusing things or painful things happen to us, our first instinct isn’t to think on those things, its to do something.

“I must get this situation under control.”

That’s not Jesus calling - that’s the good ole’ American can-do spirit calling.

We jump in to fix things - but there something better for us to do.

The Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians and in verse 16, he alludes back to Isaiah 40:13-15

Isaiah 40:13–15 ESV

Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

In our language, Paul is saying, “Who has the ability to set God straight?”

A lot of the time we are the 26 year old telling the 62 year old how to get fit.

Lord, if you will just do this for me, this will fix everything - when we don’t really have a clue.

But who does?

It might be the one who sees the nations as dust on the scales.

I weigh on a very regular basis - if I don’t, I’ll get out of control real fast.

But you know something I don’t do.

When I tap my electronic scales to turn the on, I don’t wipe the dust off the scales.

Dust doesn’t weigh much.

That’s how God sees the great nations of the earth.

The US, Russia, China, Ukraine, Iran - dust - dust on the scales.

Almost inconsequential except for the children of God that live in those nations.

What is the matter?

The matter is we forget who saves us.

We forget and then we start acting like everyone else - and ya’ll

In case you missed it - everyone else is CRAZY - I mean CRAZY.

Now go back to verse 5 for point number 2

Our faith should be in God

1 Corinthians 2:5 “so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

The word rest there literally is the verb to be - “so that your faith might not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

Now that’s churchy right?

Have faith in God.

That’s an old hymn

“Have faith in God, He’s on His throne

“Have faith in God, He watches o’er His own

“He never fails, He must prevail

“Have faith in God, have faith in God.”

And there isn’t a person in here that will say their faith is in man - and yet

Look around ourselves at our crazy world and how we relate to it.

There is not a person in this room that is not facing some giant in their life right now.

Everyone has something and we’re all stressed to the max.

What are we missing?

Point number three is in verse 9

Our dreams of God aren’t lofty enough

1 Corinthians 2:9 “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—”

The word imagined is built on a word that means to ascend or go up.

Mt. Everest is 29,032 feet high.

That’s 5.5 miles.

That’s the distance from the church down Gray Highway towards Macon, until you get to TCL Auto Sales on the right.

Right before you get to Greenwood church.

In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and his sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people to successfully climb Everest.

You’d think he might have a “One small step for a man…” quote ready, but he didn’t.

He said, “While on top of Everest, I looked across the valley towards the great peak Makalu and mentally worked out a route about how it could be climbed.”

When he literally reached the top of the world, he realized that there was even still more there to do.

The most holy, most knowledgable person about the Lord is this room has only scratched the surface of what God wants for us.

The person with the most gratitude for the Lord’s mercy and grace doesn’t begin to comprehend what the Lord truly does for His people.

While we run like chickens with our heads cut off around the yard trying to fix everything

He’s sitting and waiting for us to come to Him exhausted so He can show us how He wants it done.

And the killer of it all is this, He’s given us a way to skip that running around crazy part.

Again, we’re dealing with the Lord, so it’s immensely counterintuitive.

But it is the way He wants us to do it.

Point number 4

Wait on the Lord

Now, let me explain what this looks like, then we’ll see some scriptures that prove this is right.

Waiting on the Lord doesn’t mean you stop everything and join a monastery.

It doesn’t mean you ignore what is going on around you and you just quit.

You still keep living.

If you work, you still go to work.

If you are student, you still go to school.

You still eat, sleep, clean, read - whatever.

But you also have times of prayer and a lot of those times are quiet.

You don’t tell the Lord what to do - you simply lay what the issue is out before Him

And then you wait with this attitude that He is going to answer.

Back in point two, we said our faith should be in God.

And I said, we say that but then we don’t always live like it’s true.

Here’s the hard part of waiting, you have to live what you have professed.

Listen, you and I will agree, the Lord loves us.

The Lord wants the best for us.

The Lord works everything to our benefit and His glory.

Those words come out of our mouths - we sing them in our songs.

When we are waiting on the Lord, we have to repeat those affirmations of faith over and over.

We force ourselves to truly believe what we say we believe.

“I will follow Jesus where ever He goes.”

“He will work this out as He sees fit and we’ll all be better for it.”

This takes discipline.

We’re allergic to discipline.

We want to fix it now - we want God to fix it now.

And He doesn’t do now like we want Him to do now.

So we have to discipline ourselves to wait.

Now the scripture

Lamentations 3:25–26 ESV

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

You heard that?

Let’s read it again out loud together: Lamentations 3:25-26

Lamentations 3:25–26 ESV

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

I promise you this - if you scream and cry and beg the Lord long enough, you’ll run out of gas.

You will have nothing to say and you will wait quietly.

Absolutely pray with all of the passion inside of you

But eventually you’ll get to the best spot - the quiet spot where He’ll remind you that He’s got this.

Isaiah 30:15 ESV

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling,

Our strength is not in getting all pentecostal and rebuking the devil.

Our strength comes when our souls are finally quiet

And the Lord speaks trust into our hearts.

Some of you have been there.

You know what I’m talking about.

Brothers and sisters, this is hard to do.

It requires a high level of want to - of wanting to scale the heights of the mountain and see God.

But once you do it, the next time is a little easier

And the next even easier - but it’s never easy.

It always requires a level of trust that we aren’t accustomed to having.

Because by holding still, we are telling the Lord, if you don’t do something, then I will be destroyed.

And then you do nothing and wait.

And everyone around you thinks you are crazy.

Everyone except the one who will deliver to you more than you can ask or think.

In 2026, drive the people around you crazy

and wait on the Lord.

Let’s pray

Communion

I end almost every funeral or graveside service I preach with these verses:

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Paul is saying that no matter how much we think the Lord can do, He can do more.

That no matter how good we think the Lord can be, He will be better.

We cannot ask God more than He can do.

We cannot imagine something good that the Lord cannot do.

We cannot dream of holy glories that will be more than what we will experience with God.

He is able to do abundantly more that ALL that we ask or think.

Practical illustration.

The Bible tells us that the Hebrew children in Egypt groaned under their oppressors and God heard them.

You know they groaned to no longer be slaves.

They groaned to be free and not be beaten.

They groaned to have a better life.

What did God deliver?

All of that, plus…He delivered all who believed from death.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

All they wanted was to be freed from slavery.

God wanted to free them from sin and death.

So He sent Jesus.

Way more than they could ask or think.

We are praying for Jesus to come again.

I wonder what THAT will look like.

Everyone who has been baptized after their conversion is welcome to join us at the table.

Please exit your pew to the left and come to the table closest to you.

You can eat the elements at the table or take them back to your seat if you want to pray over them for a moment.

The gluten free wafers are at _____________ table.

Let us pray.

Benediction:

Let us pray

From the Valley of Vision:

O LOVE BEYOND COMPARE,

Thou art good when thou givest,

Thou art good when thou takest away,

Thou art good when the sun shines upon me,

Thou are good when night gathers over me.

Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,

and in love didst redeem my soul;

Thou dost love me still,

in spite of my hard heart, my ingratitude, and my distrust.

Thy goodness has been with me during another year,

leading me through a twisting wilderness, in retreat helping me to advance,

when beaten back making sure headway.

Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;

I hoist sail and draw up anchor,

With thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.

I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.

If thou hast appointed storms of tribulation, thou wilt be with me in them;

If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation, I shall not drown;

If I am to die, I shall see thy face the sooner;

If a painful end is to be my lot, grant me grace that my faith fail not;

If I am to be cast aside from the service I love, I can make no stipulation;

Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial, as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.

In Jesus’ name, Amen

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Now, go be the church that makes Jesus known.

Grace and Peace.