Don't Stuff Your Stuff
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Series Introduction
Series Introduction
Last week we talked about how we are set free to live. We heard the Gospel and we celebrated it and it was soooo good! I woke up the next morning thinking, “Wow, did that just happen!”
Maybe this is your first time visiting Codell and it is so good to have you here!
And maybe you know in your mind that you are set free, but you haven’t really experienced it. Maybe your life looks the same and feels the same...
Maybe you feel that you still have those chains holding you back.
Maybe your saying, “Yeah, Thayne, that all sounds good, but I’m not experiencing this freedom in Christ that you are talking about.”
You might be Forgiven but you Don’t Forget
Forgiveness
So what is this series really about you might ask?
So what is this series really about you might ask?
It’s about loving well. Loving well in three direction. It’s about loving God, loving others, and loving yourself.
And there might be times that you may feel uncomfortable. Maybe a little uneasy, but give this a shot...
Much of what we are going to be talking about will go against everything that you want to do… Because it goes against everything we have ever know or ever done...
We play wounded right? We are tough… We just suck it up and go on...
Bill Syder and the K-State FB team - My cousin was a trainer on the team a few years back and she had the scoop on all the injuries, but wouldn’t share a thing… Why? You can’t let anybody know… They will see your weaknesses right.
And if you give this a shot, you can liken it to falling through the Wardrobe? You know the C.S. Lewis book the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Kids fall through the back of the wardrobe and they end up being in a place called Narnia. And nothing is the same in Narnia and you don’t really want to go back because everything is so different and so special.
Jesus was asked by the Pharisees what the most important commandment was...
Jesus was asked by the Pharisees what the most important commandment was...
And these Pharisees had this this running list of all these commands and were trying to rank these commands and determine which ones were the most important. By the way, there are 613 commandments.
And so they decide to ask Jesus which commandments were and you know what he said?
And threw in the 2nd one for no extra charge, because I know you are going to ask...
SLIDE - Matthew 22
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew
And that is what this series is about. It’s learning to “love well.” Love God well. Love your neighbor well. And to love yourself well.
And so wherever you find yourself in life - I hope that you can find the courage to listen well, give this a shot, so you can learn to love well and live well.
And so wherever you find yourself in life - I hope that you can find the courage to listen well, give this a shot, so you can learn to love well and live well.
And I know that if you do, you can experience profound changes that will improve your life.
It will improve your marriage.
It will improve your relationship with your kids.
It will improve your relationships at work.
It will improve your relationship here within this church.
It will improve how you view yourself...
And ultimately it will improve the quality of this community. And that’s what we really want right
After all 1 John talks repeatedly about loving each other.
AND
And this is our witness - yeah - we might be doing new things here at the church. And yeah we might have a lot of really exciting things going on, but if we don’t love each other well, we won’t be everything that God has created us to be.
And this is our witness - yeah - we might be doing new things here at the church. And yeah we might have a lot of really exciting things going on, but if we don’t love each other well, we won’t be everything that God has created us to be.
Bad Things Happen When You Stuff Your Stuff
Bad Things Happen When You Stuff Your Stuff
So this will cover a number of different topics but today I want to talk about the problem of buried “stuff.”
And we all have buried “stuff.”
It might be from our peer group growing up
It might be from people who were supposed to be spiritual mentors...
We might have buried stuff from our family of origin… Like our parents - mom or dad or grandparents...
And this buried stuff can pop up or manifest itself in our lives and we might not even be aware of it.
SLIDE Psalm 139
David knew that he had buried stuff...
David knew that he had buried stuff...
In , David recognizes that God knows everything about him .
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
But what is deeply profound in this Psalm is that even David recognizes that he has some blind spots.
But what is deeply profound in this Psalm is that even David recognizes that he has some blind spots.
At the end of this particular Psalm, he prays a prayer. And it is a pray that God would reveal buried “stuff.”
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Psalm 13
And this is really interesting, and here is why...
At the beginning of this Psalm he had already said that “that you have searched me and know me.”
He acknowledges that God has already done the search and that God already knows everything about him. SO why would he pray at the end of the Psalm, “Search me?”
It because he doesn’t know everything about himself. He recognizes this. There is hidden things in his own heart that he isn’t aware of so he is asking God to show his “stuff” to him...
SLIDE ICEBERG
We can use this image of the iceberg...
And this is really interesting because only 10% percent the iceberg is seen.
And in the same way there is that 10% of our lives that we show people. Only 10% of our lives that people can see. This is the visible part of our lives.
People ask how are you… and we always say, “good.”
And so we have 90% of what people can’t see.
And there are people who say that we are aware of only 10 % of that.
The interesting thing about icebergs is that they move in the opposite direction of powerful wind currents. And if you ask why, you will find out that icebergs are driven by the deep currents of the ocean that are moving the 90% that is below the surface.
And in the same way we are moved by some of the deep hurts that we have in our lives that is below the surface.
And here is the mistake that people make… We can mistake to confuse a forgiven past with a forgotten past.
And here is the mistake that people make… We can mistake to confuse a forgiven past with a forgotten past.
We might be a new creation in Christ and be forgiven… BUT the wounds that are in our past are still there… We still have hurts. We are still wounded people.
And so this is what happens… This is crazy but so true… So when we are frustrated with someone or when we are anxious about something or angry…
We say why did that person do that to me....
Instead of Why does that do that to me???
What guys do is say that it is manly and spiritual to buck up and move on...
The most important question that we can ask ourselves is why?
Luke
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
So much of this can come from not taking the time to cultivate this health inside of us.
And it was Socrates that said....
And it was Socrates that said....
That the unexamined life is not worth living...
And if we don’t take time to dig in and examine ourselves… we will not live a life that it could have been… You are going to short change yourself and others around you.
Saul did not live an examined life...
Saul did not live an examined life...
There is Saul in all of us and God wants to take it out of us.
And you might be a highly competent person, powerful, and capable of anything and if you do not live an examined life - this is what it could cost you...
Saul came from a powerful family… He was choice and handsome… He was chosen by God to be Israels first king...
But.. He Stuffed His Stuff...
He had low self-esteem
- 17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.
Self-dought… - Hid in the baggage
Avoided Conflict -
We can’t keep “false-peace” not possible - because if you leave things unattended they will come to bite you...
We stuff stuff stuff and then the javelin comes out… And wow....
He envied the Success of his Son Jonathan - He ends up wanting to kill his son.
you hate to see other people to succeed because it takes something from you...
He was afraid to go fight Goliath… - 17:8
Who was the biggest and the best… Saul...
And don’t we sing these songs about God...
He dreaded David - Tried to Kill the guy 6 different times… -
If you had Jonathan and David what would you do?
General 1 General 2
And at some point God will point out everything because he cares..
And he cares about you as well.
- Partial obediance… Why the partial obediance.
Why? It’s a heart issue...
- 12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
- We think that we are ok… When we are totally blind to what is really going on…
13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”
13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
Saul plays the blame game
Mark 1:35
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”
Why we are going to a different town....???
His Doing is Flowing out of His Being...
Example...
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-
Praying at different times throughout the day.
Praying at different times throughout the day.
Other religions high-jacked this from the Bible...
Daniel - prayed 3 x’s a day.
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Stop, Reflect, Refresh, Renew, Re-calibrate,