SM10 Gifts Worth Remebering (Romans) 120207 part01
Let’s start this morning by listing 33 things that we have been through that have been very hard. Maybe 2-that are from the past. List at least one thing that you are struggling with right now. (On thing causing you to worry) Job, health, marriage. single and god not brought a person One thing that is very hard for you.
On my list I put 3 past things, my father’s death, my brothers’ deaths, and my initial entrance into ministry. I also put down two current things. The first was my wife’s loss of her kidneys. This continues to be a hard situation for her and of course, because we are connected at the hip, for me.
The second situation has to do with our church.
Now the verse we encounter today is Romans 8:28. We have been working our way through Romans and in these final weeks before Christmas we are going to look at 3 of god’s best promises. 3 promises that he has made for us that are truly gifts to us. Gifts worth remembering.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
I want to apply this verse to our current situation as a church. Aas a part of the body here, this is your church, and it will help you to see what we are facing, and how God might be working in your life as a part of the body.
If you don't care about EHBC, stay with me, and you will see how this verse applies to you, maybe as a leader or as you face your life.
Transition to finances:
Right now we face a real challenge. The challenge comes in two forms. As a church we are about 160,000 behind budget. We have cut our spending so we are about 70,000 behind giving. This is a significant shortfall. But it gets worse. In March we will begin a mortgage payment on roughly a 1.5 million dollar mortgage. This will require an additional 140,000$. So we have about a ¼ of a million dollar shortfall. Now as a church we about 150,000 socked away for a rainy day. So we have a 300,000$ problem with a $150,000 reserve. This is a problem. (15%)
The problem gets worse. As a church we do not appear to be growing. When we built we made the assumption that we would grow 10-20%. This seemed like a modest assumption. Yet our attendance appears to be about the same as it was before we built. This no doubt is at least in part, the cause of our financial problems.
Now the verse says, 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
To be honest I have not always known that. In fact, I have spent much of the spring and summer specifically choosing not to know it. Specially choosing not to remember it,. Specially choosing not to claim it. Specifically choosing instead to alternatingly first worry and then to complain about it.
God says that we can know this for sure, that we can have complete assurance about this, that we can take this to the bank. This promise is a gift to us, but there are times when I do not want to hear it, instead I want to complain about the new realities I face.
Do you ever tell god, that there are certain things you don’t want to do? Do you remember when we began this project? I was very honest and string forward with you. I really did not want to do it. I did not want to do it because I don’t like to call people to new levels of faith, because that takes faith on my part. When we did the campaign, I used the illustration of Peter walking on the water. Unlike peter I did not want to get out of the boat. I did not want to cast vision, and ask people to give, and to see God do a great thing through us because that was risking failure. I don’t like risking failure. I like to play it safe. So I fought God about doing this in the first place. But it was clear to me that we should do it.
But then God pulled off a great campaign. The consultants who helped us said we would raise maybe 3.5 million. Instead we raised 4.2 million. It was one of the best campaigns ever. This incredible building went up. God was clearly at work. Yea God. But inside something said “We are safe. I wont have to trust you.”
We moved in 14 months ago. But about 10 months ago it began to seem that the nickels and noses were not going up. It has become obvious that we face a problem. Do you ever tell God that there are certain things you don’t want to do, and God calls you to do them anyway? And you end up facing the problems you were afraid you would have to face. Then you end up like Jonah saying “God I knew that this would happen!” This is why I did not want to do this! This is why I did not want to come to Nineveh!
So Paul says “28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. But I have been purposely forgetting it. Because I didn’t want to hear it. Have you ever experienced that? Maybe you are in a painful situation. Maybe you are in a tough or difficult situation, and you know this verse, but you don’t want to hear it. You know that god is working good, but you are filled with anxiety, and anger and worry and most of all you don’t want to be in this situation. I can relate. Sometimes God takes us to the very place we want to avoid, and it is just like we thought it would be.
If that is where you are, you need to do what I needed to do. To have a good conversation with the lord. One day some time ago, I decided to stop worrying and complaining. And I said “Lord I will do whatever you want, “what do you want me to do?” the answer or thought that came to my mind was “just be happy where you are. Stop complaining and claim this promise. Maybe that is what you need to do?
says “28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
God works- Contrast this with Fatalism. I looked up fatalism and “the belief that all things are determined by fate.” So I looked up fate. “The power that is supposed to determine all things.” That helps a lot!! Who is that power? How does it determine all things? Clearly Paul’s thought is not that “all things” as impersonal realities by themselves work together constructively; rather it is God’s providential working in and through these various things that God is the one who works. This promise tells us that God, not fate, is at work in the world.
is in the present tense. He is at work right now. At no time is he ever sitting on his hands, or taking a break, or slacking off
He works in all things. This means that God is at work in the good and the bad. In the stuff we like and the stuff we don’t like. It is easy for me to see God working when for the previous 13 years, since 1993, the church has grown 6-10% a year every year. It was easy to see God leading us, when every leadership move you make is matched by God increasing attendance. It is easy to see God’s leading when you raise 20% more than the best possible scenario you consultants paint for you. It is easy to see his work in the good. But the text says he works in all things. That means when we don’t grow. That means when we don’t get what we want.
God was at work when right before the campaign started 2 of our potential biggest givers, 2 great fans of the ministry here died. “Lord how are we supposed to do this without them? “ God was a work When we had the campaign a couple of really big givers ran into financial trouble and they were unable to finish.
God was a work when he called Steve Case out of ehbc and into crossroads. I talk with Mick, my friend who is a pastor at cross roads, and he can see very clearly that it was the hand of god that brought Steve to them. It is harder for us to see that it was the hand of god that took Steve away from us.
God is right now doing something good, even in the things we don’t like.
Now let me be clear. I have had a blast for the past year. I have seen God do a lot of things. I have seen god touch a lot of lives, and save marriages, and get people through real problems. (thanksgiving service) I am so excited about many of the mission adventures going on. What we are doing in Spain is so cool.
I leave almost every weekend and say “wow, that was great”. There was a great atmosphere, and great things took place. I really think that some of the most effective ministry I have been apart of has been for the past year. . But then I look at the numbers and say “Lord, this is not what we need.” In may ways it is inexplicable to me. We have had a few people get upset at leave, but not that many. We have a lot of visitors, Warren has been following up on them, “they seem to enjoy it”
He is doing something through the numbers we face, that is just as real as what he did in Spain.
Whatever you put down, you are facing, God is currently at work in. In the hard situation you are facing. In the pain you have to deal with. In the chaos that you currently describe as your life. God is at work. He is gainfully employed. He may seem quiet or silent. Or maybe he seems indifferent to your pain. But he is not. He is just alive when the sun shines as when the thunder rolls. He is just as active when your hearts desire comes to pass as he is when your dreams are crushed. He is alive when he brings that special person, or that casual conversation, or in the message you happened to hear on the radio, or the verse you just happened to open to in your bible.
Can you claim this and assert it to be true?
Are you willing to say “god show me?” Open my eyes?” I believe it!
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose
What is the good he has in mind? What is he talking about? He does not say specifically. He simply says, he is doing something good.
What this does not mean!
- all things we experience are good.
Some people believe that there is no real difference between good and evil. Christianity makes a clear line of differentiation between the two. The bible is very clear that evil exits and that evil happens to all people. God would not mock us by saying that everything is good. Cancer, murder, rape, robbery, backbiting, gossip, extortion, and hundreds of other things are evil. They are abhorrent to God, destructive to relationships, and painful to experience.
- all things we experience are God’s moral will. (ad decreee)
This does not mean that I got robbed, or hit by another car, backstabbed by a friend, because God wanted me to. It doesn’t meant that God told my friend to backstab me.
- all things will turn out with the good I desire
Sometimes I hear people casually quote this verse and they say “all things will turn out okay.” They seem to hope that in spite of a series of bad occurrences, at the end there will be a good occurrence that will make all the bad things worthwhile. People will tolerate a whole series of bad things, thinking that maybe at the end something externally good will occur that will balance out all the evil.
Remember the funny story we used to tell that went something like this.... “I just got fired from work. Boy that is bad. No, that is good, because I get to spend time with my kids. Well, that is good. No that is bad because I got in a car accident with them. Wow, that is bad. No, that is good, because the car we hit was a bank robber. Oh that is good! No that is bad because his brother is now trying to get us. Oh, that is bad! No, that is good, because now we are in the FBI witness protection program and we get to live in Hawaii. Oh, that is good! No, that is bad because we live near an active volcano.” This thinking goes on and on. Some people have felt that this verse teaches us that life will end on the good news we have in mind and as a result we are able to tolerate an abundance of bad news.
ie i can have a long job search as long as i get a great job at the end.
sharing in group- thank ful about people)- most of us are defined by what we do. he is defined by who he is
What good has he been doing at ehbc?
So what has god been doing? Well, in the last year god has put the leadership team on a planning adventure that we never would have gone on if we did not have this need. He brought on a couple of elders that have encouraged us to plan more. He gave us Todd Marshall, who has helped a number of people with planning. A few months ago Kyle pipes said to me “have you read the book “the forgotten ways”? you ought to read it. So I did. It rocked my world. God has been sharpening our focus, causing us to examine how we do things, humbling us, giving us new ideas, and fresh convictions for old ideas. We never would be experiencing this if it were not for that fact that we have not gotten what we want. In Jan I am going to share with you some of our thinking about this where we believe god wants us to go.
However, the text goes on to mention what should be considered his greatest good.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
He desires us to be conformed to his son. Suffering will never make any sense unless you and I value becoming like Christ. Unless you and I want to love what he loves, and feel what he feels, and value what he values, and hate what he hates, then suffering will not make sense.
A part of me values becoming like Christ. But a part of me wants to coast. God hates it when I coast. He continues to bring things into my life to prevent me from doing that. If I won 100 million Dollars, and started to coast, God would bring something else into my life to keep me dependent on him. To make me more courageous. To help me to live more faithfully. To sharpen the edge of my spiritual life. To help me to enjoy him more. Right now God is using this situation.
The current stress you are going through, are you allowing it to conform you to the image of Christ? Do you see it changing you? Can you celebrate that? it really is good. Occasionally my wife and Jon bohm get talking about their near death experiences. Jon’s from cancer. My wife from kidney failure. They say things like this “we are the lucky ones who had face our own mortality”. Who know the each day is a gift. Who understand that they will die.” I say “I know those things.” They say “you can’t know it unless you have personally faced death.” Some things only come from suffering.
Think back on your past suffer. The death of my father turned out to have an incredibly beneficial impact on my life. Struggles I have had in ministry have done the same. I can look at some of the hardest times I have had and say “those were the best of times”, because of the personal spiritual growth I have experienced.”
God wants to use the suffering in your life, to do something good in you. To make you momre like Christ.
I believe that God wants to use the challenges that we face as a church to do something good in those who call this church their home. He wants to say to each of us, “you cannot coast”, “you cannot let other people, or the pastors own this ministry”. He wants to challenge each one of us who call ehbc home to ask “am I taking this for granted? Letting others carry the load? Resting on my past accomplishments? As we go through our series in January I will be challenging you recommit to being a vital part of what God is doing at EHBC.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
If you have placed your faith in Christ, you have been called according to his purpose. You are forgiven. If he is your savoir, you are called according to his purpose. If you have not made that decision then the good that God wants to work in your life is to help you to see your need for his son. If you have not believed on Christ then all the suffering you are experiencing is calling you to understand that you cannot do life alone, that you need a savior and a helper in this world. We would love ot talk with you. You can do it now.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose
Notice that this is present tense. Those who currently love him. Those who are loving him right now. Well, this is going to seem outrageous and maybe simplistic, but I simply ask the question, “How can I love God in the midst of this situation? Can I thank Him? Adore Him? Obey Him? Forgive another person? Try to resolve conflict by getting with another person?” Maybe I love God by admitting I was wrong. If we really want to go to the big leagues, we can say this .... “God I submit to this, knowing you is more important than avoiding this pain!” One way you show this love is by stopping fighting him and ask "what Can i learn?"
Use this situation to help me get to know you. This is very hard to say and it requires real soul searching, but it will set your spirit free when you can say it
gdo sent jesus for you. he has proven his love.
brought you inot his family
But he is not content to have you remain a baby in his family. To just drink from the bottle all of your life.
He wants you to be happy, content, filled with truth, loving, giving, able to handle whatever comes your way, attractive ot others, passionate about eternal things. Not fearful. Not feeling like you have to be in control. not putting yourself as the center of the univers. Not relaying on things that will fail you.
God is your personal trainer, developping you for eternity. and he will work in all that comes your way, to challenge you in the exact way you need.
He is usuing our situation as a church as one of the ways to challenge each of us.
5:30 crowd
we have seen god work before- own sat night
We have crossed the river. will we camp on the banks. or will we use this building as a tool to take more land. Will we try to preserve this image and nice cbuilding, or will we focus on using this buidling to touch people for eternity?
tool
But he is n
He is changing you for eternity.