The Chaos We Encounter

THE CHAOS YOU ENCOUNTER

Last week I began our new series talking about the temporary inconvenience of moving from one house to another: an inconvenience we've all experienced — at one time or another.

And then, in recent weeks, we have seen that minor inconvenience become magnified in a major way for multiplied thousands of people in Houston and Florida and all across the Caribbean as three major storms have swept through each area.

Their lives have been turned upside down, and many have lost everything they own. Now, God's people have responded in a magnificent way — as God's people always do — and there are dozens of ministries from virtually every faith tradition on the ground and deeply involved in a hands-on way in helping people get their lives back together. Our own church has contributed to this effort.

Their situation is an example of what this series — and today's message — is about.

For the people affected by Harvey and Irma and Maria, it doesn't matter how "together" their lives were the day before the storm. They discovered, in an all-to-real way, how life is unpredictable, and this world is unstable, and you never know when everything about your existence will suddenly spin into chaos.

What's more, as I write these words, our nation may be on the brink of war. Who knows if it is merely political posturing or if it's a genuine threat? Time will tell. We've seen such situations unravel before; there's a possibility that it could happen again.

We get these frequent reminders that the world around us is not nearly as stable as we would like it to be. And I'm not just talking about politics and weather. Some of you are seeing it happen day after day on a more personal level. You see it in your marriage, your family, your business and your job — your world is becoming increasingly unstable and there's just a whole lotta shaking going on all around you.

When this happens, it doesn't matter how together you might be personally, because the chaos around you still affects you. What do you do when the world comes crashing down?

We're in week two of a series called Immovable. It's about finding strength in a culture of chaos. That's a good way to describe the world we live in: it's often chaotic.

Last week we talked about how to deal with the chaos we create for ourselves, both through sinful willfulness and through misguided and unwise decisions. We talked about the need to confront the chaos head on: asking the right questions and listening to the right people and taking the right steps in follow-up.

Today we'll talk about confronting a different kind of chaos. I'm talking about the chaos we encounter that is not of our doing, but is a result of this crazy, mixed-up, fallen world in which we live.

You personally may not be prone to chaos, but I can assure that the world is, and many of the people around you are, and sometimes it doesn't take much for pandemonium to take over.

So today I want to talk to you about dealing with the chaos around you — the chaos that occurs in situations that you can't really control. How do you stand strong?

Years ago Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem that many of us memorized in grade school or middle school. The poem sums up the standing strong mentality. I won't recite the entire poem, but some of the lines you probably remember...

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And-what is more-you'll be a Man, my son!

Humorist Jean Kerr, who wrote Please Don't Eat the Daisies, had her own take on this poem...

If you can keep your head when all about are losing theirs, it's just possible that you haven't grasped the situation.

Her version actually might be more accurate. But today I want to talk to you about how to understand the situation, and how to respond to the chaos around you — and how to keep your head on straight even when nobody else has a clue about what to do.

We'll look at a story in about the Apostle Paul who was on a ship in the middle of a storm, and everyone around him was losing their heads, and he stood strong in the midst of it all.

The events of this story parallel the steps we need to take in order to respond rightly to the chaos we encounter.

We read this passage of scripture earlier; let's spend the next several minutes seeing what this story has to say to us today.

begins with Paul setting for Italy. When you're reading through the book of Acts you notice that in chapter 27 the pronouns suddenly change from "he" to "we." It is assumed that, at this point, Luke — who wrote the book of Acts — is along for the ride.

When Paul got on the boat his life was already quite chaotic. He was on his way to Italy, to Rome, so stand trial before Caesar, and quite possibly be sentenced to death. This chaos in Paul's life was not of his own doing— other than the fact that he had been faithful to preach the gospel. This chaos in Paul's life was the result of the fallen world in which Paul lived, and a government hostile to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

After he boarded the final ship, things went from bad to worse, because the ship — which contained 276 people, plus cargo — ran into some troubling weather. And we will see that no one really knew how to handle it, until Paul finally stepped up.

As we work through this story, there are three observations about chaotic situations that I want to draw to your attention. If you want to be the kind of person who can stand strong in a culture of chaos — if you want to be the one who keeps their head on straight when everyone else is losing theirs — these are three general truths that you need to keep in mind.

The first thing to remember when things get chaotic is...

1. The chaos will never fix itself. Neither can you can count on others to do it for you.

Problems rarely, if ever, just go away on their own. In fact, they usually get worse.

The second law of thermodynamics is about the inevitability of entropy — that things go from order to disorder. Our problems certainly fit into the category: left unattended they go from bad to worse.

As the ship sailed into the storm, they couldn't just cross their fingers and hope that the storm wouldn't do what a storm of this size can't help but do. They needed a plan and they needed to take action, but they just weren't willing to do it.

As the ship sailed into troubled waters, Paul warned them in verse 10: This is going to be disastrous. He wanted them to put on the brakes and wait out the storm and spend winter where they were, because these waters were considered un-navigable in the late fall and early winter months.

Luke then writes...

11 But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship.

Their advice was to go ahead on.

There are three phrases in this part of the story that jump out at you.

One phrase is verse 9.

9 Much time had been lost.

Isn't that what chaos does? It's the ultimate time-killer. Until you find a way to confront the chaos, you just keep losing time.

Another phrase that jumps out is found in verse 15.

15 The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along.

How many times have we been in the same situation? We just give up and give way to the problem, and let it drive us along — too tired to fight back, too discouraged to resist, we just let the situation drive us along.

There's another phrase that will jump out at you. It's found in verse 12. Paul had told the leaders what they needed to do, and Luke writes...

12 Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on...

There are certain situations — especially crisis situations — when the majority is the last group you want to listen to. The hive-mind mentality of the majority rarely moves you in the direction of wise decision-making.

A few years ago I worked with a church who was on the verge of choosing a new pastor. Their church government was such that pastors are chosen by majority vote.

It had come down to two options. A 32 year old hotshot, and a fifty-something year-old grandfather with a decades-long history of ministry.

A couple of the leaders in the church said, "This young man is not quite ready for the responsibility we're asking him to take on. We need this older, seasoned man of God too lead our church into the future."

The majority didn't agree. "The young man," they said, "will bring in younger members. He's a more dynamic preacher. He's a visionary. That's who we want." And that's who they took.

Two years later, the church was broke, the pews were empty, and the hotshot was no longer there — no longer in the ministry because of a scandal.

The fact is that age had nothing to do it. The problem was that the majority couldn't collectively see the same red flags that some of the key leaders could individually see, and they weren't willing to listen.

I'm saying that there will be times when you have to stand alone, against the tide of public opinion, and choose to do what you know is right, rather than what everyone else — for this passing moment — thinks is right.

Chaos will never fix itself. And, most of the time, you can't count on the nameless, faceless "they" to fix it for you.

So, what can you do? Here's the next observation. You need to...

2. Acknowledge that God is in control of even the most out-of-control situations.

God is not the author of chaos. He is the redeemer of chaos. God is not the author of disorder or destruction. He is the redeemer of disorder and destruction.

People ask, "What about the storms? Did God create those storms and send them to punish people?" That may be how it would have been explained in the middle ages, but today we're understanding more and more about how the human footprint affects global weather conditions.

God did not create the chaos in the Texas and Florida and the Caribbean. But he is there — in the presence of his people — to redeem the situation.

In today's story we see how Paul reminded his fellow passengers that, regardless of how things may appear on the surface, God is in control. When things were at their worst, God gave a word to Paul and he passed on to everyone else, saying...

25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.

A few verses later Luke tells us...

35 After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all.

The best thing you can do in the midst of an out-of-control situation is to acknowledge that — above and beyond everything else — God is still in control.

His being in control doesn't mean that we will never face hard times or that we will never encounter chaos. It means that, in spite of the disorder all around us...

...the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. ()

More times that I can count I have had to stop in the midst of my momentary panic and remind myself who really is in control of this situation. God's message to the Apostle Paul during the midst of the storm was, in effect: "You will get through this." And you will too.

The 18th century evangelist George Whitefield once said... "We are immortal until our work on earth is done." [Steve's note: This statement has been attributed to several people; I'm going with Whitefield in this message.]

God is in control of even the most out-of-control situations. If you want to learn to keep your head about you — if you want to learn to stand strong — remind yourself of this truth every day of your life, every moment of every day.

The first two observations from this story are that the chaos isn't about to fix itself, and most likely the majority won't make it any better. But God is in control, and he can redeem any amount of chaos. So where does that lead us?

The key to standing strong in a culture of chaos is to ...

3. Take charge wherever and whenever you can take charge.

After the boat had taken a beating in the storm, and they had thrown their cargo overboard, and they had gone two weeks without taking a bite of food, and it had gotten to the point, Luke writes...

27 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

At this point, Paul spoke up once again, saying, in effect, "Gentlemen, I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. You should have listened to me before and you didn't; maybe this time you will."

You may not be able to still the storm as it squalls around you. You may not be able to change the tide of public opinion, or change the economy, or control what some political leader might do. You may not even be able to control what your wife or your kids or your boss or your customers might do.

But you can control what you do. And you speak the voice of leadership — and set the example of leadership — to those around you.

There's another phrase in the text that really jumps out at you. It's in verse 33. Paul says...

33 "For the last fourteen days...you have been in constant suspense..."

Many of us know what that's like, and it has lasted a lot longer than 14 days. That's what chaos creates: a nagging, never-ending state of not knowing. Based on what takes place in this story, here are three things I would advice you to do.

First, I encourage you to take care of yourself.

33 Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat.

The crisis had been going on for two weeks, and it wasn't over yet. Almost, but not yet. The best thing they could do, at this moment, was to tend to themselves. So Paul told them to eat.

Oftentimes the first thing people do in the midst of a crisis is to stop taking care of themselves. Either they don't eat, or they stuff themselves with unhealthy food. Either they sleep all day, or they don't sleep at all. Either they completely withdraw emotionally, or they blow up at every little thing. And they try to medicate the situation with alcohol or drugs or food or shopping or any number of other things.

If there is chaos going on all around you and you're in a constant state of not-knowing what will happen next, my first word to you is: take care of yourself. Eat right, go to sleep at night, and take a walk every day, a couple of times a day. These three things will help you maintain your emotional equilibrium.

Second, I encourage you to lighten your load.

38 When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.

Why? Because they didn't need it anymore. Instead, they needed the ship to be lighter so they could closer to shore.

There's something about a crisis that helps us define what really matters, what we really need. In order to stand strong, there will be times when it is necessary to divest yourself of unnecessary clutter and useless baggage.

All of us have some amount of clutter in our lives. Maybe it's a friendship or a relationship that isn't leading us in a good direction. Maybe it's a financial obligation that is draining our resources. Maybe we're wasting our time in an unproductive area, which prevents us from doing those things which matter most.

You may not be able to control the elements of the storm all around you, but you strengthen your position when you lighten your load. Look at your life and ask yourself: What do I really need? What really matters most? What can I do without? Lighten your load and let go of some of the clutter.

Third, I encourage you to get ready to do your part.

When Bill Hybels was preaching on this passage, he talked about how believers often want God to come in to our difficult situations and make everything just right — without any effort on our part. We want God to rescue us from the boat and drop safely on shore — without ever being inconvenienced.

That's not the way that it works, most of the time. Most of the time it works for us the way it worked for those on board the ship in . The boat was approaching the shore and then...

41 The ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.

They were so close, but still a couple of hundreds yards away. Still in a little bit of danger. So what did they do? Luke writes about the centurion in charge...

43 He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.

44 The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

When you're in the midst of chaos, there are times when you'll need to swim with all your might, and there are times when you'll need to hang on to a plank with all your might ... but you need to do all that you can do in order to get to shore.

God doesn't come in to your life like a butler, drawing your bath and brewing your tea and ironing your newspaper and helping you slip on your slippers. That's not the role he plays in your life.

God can get you through any chaotic situation — and you can be sure that he will, because you are immortal until your work on earth is done — but you can also be sure that, in order to get through the chaos, you're going to have some skin in the game. You're going to have to do your part. You're going to have to swim — or grab some drift wood and dog-paddle — that final 200 yards to shore.

CONCLUSION

Those who stand strong in a culture of chaos are those who refuse to surrender to the chaos. They won't just give up and give way to the storm and let it drive them along. And though they may momentarily be a victim of circumstance, they refuse to remain a victim of any kind, for any time.

Why? Because they know that God is in control. They know that he will see them through whatever might come their way.

For this reason, even during an extended season of not-knowing, those who stand strong are able to say, "I am prepared to do my part. I'll take care of myself. I'll lighten my load where I can lighten my load. And I'll swim as far as I need to swim. And when I can't swim any more, I'll hang on to God's promise that he will see my through."

You have no control over the chaos around you ... but you have control over you. Whenever and where ever you can, make a leadership choice, set a leadership example, and be willing to do your part.