Laugh & Dance

Intro

Good morning Lakeside. Last week we explored how God walks us through different seasons to mature our faith. We’ve been examining Ecclesiastes 3:4, “there’s a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Last week we focused on mourning and weeping. We learned that God leads us through seasons of loss and grief in order to prepare us for receiving a more abundant harvest. We saw that Jesus models a process of grief that enlarges our souls and deepens our humanity.

This week we’re going to focus on the other side of the coin; “there’s a time to laugh and a time to dance.” We don’t always know why God allows the things he allows. We don’t get an easy answer to every question we have about our weeping and mourning. But while there is a time for mourning, as Christians we believe that it will eventually give way to laughter and dancing.

This is the tension we find ourselves in as believers. God has made amazing promises, but some of those promises are for the future and present circumstances tempt us to doubt that they’re every going to come true. Psalm 52 really highlights this tension and invites us into deeper faith. Let’s read it together.

Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;

all day long an attacker oppresses me;

2  my enemies trample on me all day long,

for many attack me proudly.

3  When I am afraid,

I put my trust in you.

4  In God, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.

What can flesh do to me?

5  All day long they injure my cause;

all their thoughts are against me for evil.

6  They stir up strife, they lurk;

they watch my steps,

as they have waited for my life.

7  For their crime will they escape?

In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

8  You have kept count of my tossings;

put my tears in your bottle.

Are they not in your book?

9  Then my enemies will turn back

in the day when I call.

This I know, that God is for me.

10  In God, whose word I praise,

in the Lord, whose word I praise,

11  in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

David is in real trouble. His enemies are all attacking at once and it seems like they’re winning. You can really feel the tension mounting in him. He swings wildly back and forth between trust and despair. “God, my attackers are oppressing me, but when I’m afraid I put my trust in you, but all day they injure me, but you’re in control.” David’s faith is dynamic and active. It’s not pie in the sky, but a boots-on-the-ground, put-to-the-test kind of faith. In this Psalm we can really feel what it’s like to put what we know to be true about God and his promises together with the brutal reality of life on earth.

Sometimes life feels like verse 2, “my enemies trample me all day long.” We feel surrounded on all sides. And yet we have amazing statements like verse 8, “God, you have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” God knows. God cares. He has bottled each tear we shed and he’s kept track of every sleepless night. He does not dismiss or minimize our problems. He’s promised to act on our behalf.

For the rest of our time, I want to remind us of the ways God turns our weeping into laughter. I want to walk us through some specific promises to cling to and remember; mostly I’m just going to read you some amazing passages of Scripture.

God defeated sin, Satan, and death

The biggest problem in our life is not an individual circumstance, but the fact that we live in a world held captive by sin, that each of us are infected by sin, and that we are complicit in sinning. Said another way, we are enslaved, infected, and rebellious. This leaves us in a state of alienation from our Creator God, who is the source of life. And this separation brings a host of problems.

Because we are alienated from God, we are psychologically alienated within ourselves- we experience shame, guilt, and fear. We are also socially alienated from one another- we experience brokenness and discord in our relationships. We’re also physically alienated from nature- we experience sorrow, painful work, sickness, disease, and death. All human problems are ultimately symptoms, and our separation from God is the cause.

Ephesians 2 sums up our condition. Paul says we were,

dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

And then Paul utters the two most beautiful words in the Bible: but God.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith.

But God. We all have a But God moment that turns our mourning into laughing. I was dead in my sin; but God. I was an alcoholic; but God. I was estranged from my family; but God. I was addicted to pornography; but God. I was a workaholic who ignored my family; but God. I was hopeless and on the verge of ending my life; but God. I was an arrogant Pharisee; but God. I jumped from relationship to relationship, never satisfied; but God. I was mourning; but God. I was weeping; but God.

Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection defeated sin, Satan, and death. And by the Spirit, Jesus unites us to the Father so that our alienation is turned into our adoption. This give us confidence that in either this life or the next, God will resurrect every dead part of our heart and life. If God can defeat Satan, sin, and death; he can conquer every thing causes you tears.

God will never stop loving you.

When I’m at my lowest, when life feels overwhelming, nothing lifts my spirits like my wife reminding me how much she loves me and how we’ll always get through life together. Her unconditional love and faithful presence transforms my perspective and gives me hope to endure.

How much more confidence would it inspire if we really understood how much God loves us and will never, ever leave us?

This is the most fundamental worry of our souls. Am I loved? Do I have value? Even the most hardened narcissist is––at the end of the day––a sad, insecure person longing for love and acceptance.

We all have an inner voice that doubts our worthiness. Have I made too many mistakes? Am I a disappointment? Do I do enough for others?

It doesn’t help that the world makes money selling us on the idea that we’re not enough, that we don’t have enough. The outside voices can be just as loud as the voice inside us that wonders, “am I loved?”

Romans 5:8 says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Stronger than the inner and outer voices that cast doubt, is the voice of God in Christ which says, you are loved so deeply, so fully, so completely that I gave myself over to be tortured, mocked, and crucified for you.

Don’t miss this because you’ve heard it a thousand times. God loved us––while we were still sinners. So while you were smoking meth, while you were watching porn, while you were cheating on your husband, while you were stealing from your work, while you were a jerk, while you were a fraud, while you were a hypocrite, while you were a drunk, while you were a sinner God loved you. You are deeply, fully loved.

Romans 8:38 says,

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul lists all these things that we’re tempted to believe separate us from God’s love. We all have our own lists. For myself I might write, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, finances or failure, anxiety or pride can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord.”

As you consider how God is turning your mourning into laughing, it might be helpful to write your own version of this verse. In fact, if you’re comfortable, I’d love to hear your’s in the comments.

In the tension, in the

Lakeside, may God bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you.