Stability In An Unstable World

Introduction: I remember being a teenager. In comparison to other stages of life I have come through my teenage years were probably the years most filled with insecurity and angst. During my teenage years, I am embarrassed to admit it now, but during my teenage years my number one goal was probably to avoid looking like a complete idiot. Let’s be honest, there are so many things that we can feel insecure and idiotic about. For example, we can feel insecure about the way we look. I remember the acne years. I remember those years when my upper back and neck looked diseased. You couldn’t have found a smooth patch of skin on my upper back or neck from ages 13-16. My parents would encourage me saying that no one would notice, but let’s be real - my friends from the ages of 13-16 weren’t exactly gracious. One of my friends would literally say things’s like, “Your pimples put Mt. Vesuvius to shame,” or, “Look out everyone, one of those things is going to erupt at any moment.”

I also remember the periods of time before growth spurts. I should really say the period of time before my growth spurt because there was really only one of those. I remember feeling overweight and awkward. And then after the growth spurt I remember feeling too thin and awkward.

During the awkward and uncoordinated period I remember that same friend saying to me that it looked like I had gotten the shallow end of the gene pool when it comes to athletic abilities.

On top of the physical insecurities I remember feeling socially awkward. Especially so as I entered the years of when guys and girls started to notice each other.

Today, the same realities and insecurities exist for you. In some ways these insecurities have been exaggerated by a world that portrays physical and social perfection on social media. (Side note: Many social media models admit to feeling just as insecure about themselves because they know how they portray themselves despite feeling just as insecure as everyone else. So their insecurities are even exaggerated with a sense of hypocrisy.) In a world where we are constantly bombarded with ideas of who we should be, how we should look, and how we should perform, we find ourselves thirsty for stability and security. We are desperate to find something on which to build our lives and about which to be confident and sure and strong.

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Here in these verses we see two possible outcomes in life. The outcome of the wise man and the outcome of the foolish man. In these verses Jesus is setting up a metaphor in which the houses of these two men represent the lives of these two men. The life of the wise man stood because it was built on a solid foundation while the life of the foolish man was destroyed because it was built on a weak, shifting, and insecure foundation.

Over the next three weeks I want to draw our attention to three sure and stable truths on which we can confidently build our lives, but in order to show you the stakes I want to first take a look at from the perspective of a teenage life.

Therefore, whichever teen will hear these sayings of Mine, and do them, I will liken this teen to a wise teen who builds his life on truth: and when this wise teen entered into adult life the troubles of the world descended, the philosophies of the world washed over him, and the temptations of the world beat on his life; and his life did not fall, for it was founded on truth.

But whichever teen hears these saying of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish teen who built his life on feelings: and when this foolish teen entered into adult life the troubles of the world descended, and the philosophies of the world washed over him, and the temptations of the world beat on his life, and his life fell. And great was the destruction of his life.

So, those are the stakes. We can establish our lives on truth and our lives will stand, or we can establish our lives on feelings and the wisdom of the world and our lives will be destroyed. To be clear, this passage is not saying and I am not saying, “Behave this way or God will destroy your life.” What this passage is saying is that if you don’t live according to stable truth then you have no hope when you face the hard realities the world is going to throw at you. If you build on the shifting philosophy of the world what happens to your life when the world shifts? Your life falls!

God’s Love For Me is Unchanging

So, in order to live a life that is founded on truth let’s start by considering God’s love. Truth #1 is this: God’s Love for Me is Unchanging.

When hard things come into our lives what is the first thing we often doubt? Often when hard things come into our lives, the first thing we doubt is God’s love for us. Does God really love me? If God loved me, why did he make me this way? If God loved me, why did he allow this to happen?

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Now, that is a situation that is difficult for many of us to relate to. Although, there are some who can. In her case, a lot of her stability was ripped out from under her when the truth was declared that her parents did not love her. Without Christ, she will live in an unstable life. Now we cannot minimize her pain. Any one of us in the same situation would come away with a scarred life. God designed the home to be a place of safety and stability and when man rebels against God’s plan and selfishly serve themselves within the home others will always get hurt. This girl was getting beaten up with words but her life can still stand.

Psalm 27:10 NKJV

When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the Lord will take care of me.

In Christ, she can have stability. Because of God’s deep love for us, proven by His actions on the cross, we can have hope and purpose in this life.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV

The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

What does everlasting mean? It means everlasting. It means a love that lasts forever. God’s love never changes. Not only does He say this, but He proves it with His actions.

1 John 4:10 NKJV

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Romans 8:31–39 NKJV

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-

Romans 8:31 NKJV

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

John 15:12-

John 15:12–13 NKJV

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Conclusion: How does God’s love give you stability?