2020-03-22 Virtual Church Service 2 Timothy 1: 6-7 A Message Of Hope

A MESSAGE OF HOPE (II Tim 1:6-7) March 22, 2020 Good morning, Everyone, and welcome from the 10 of us who are privileged to be here to lead in this first virtual Sunday morning service from Eaton Community Church. As you know, current restrictions on groupings and social distancing aimed at defeating COVID-19 are in effect thru April 8, which means we will be doing this for at least 3 Sundays – and probably more than that. But thanks to the wonders of technology we are able to worship together in this way – or at whatever time suits best. During these weeks we will largely duplicate normal services, although it will seem strange doing so to an empty auditorium. We are actually recording this service on Saturday afternoon to be available on our website by Sunday morning. Members of the Praise team will join us each week. Jason will be here to lead in worship. The sermon today will address our current challenges; next week we’ll wrap up the 3-part series on prayer. Then we’ll take a hiatus from I Timothy until we are able to be together again. Of course, we can’t very well take a virtual offering. But our expenses continue with only minor savings on some utilities. So, we ask that you please continue your regular giving by mailing it in, stopping by when Chris is in the office, or using our new on-line giving capability which you can find on our website at www.eatoncc.org. As you have always been faithful in the past, I know you will be under the unprecedented challenge we now face. With that, here is Jason with the announcements and Scripture reading, and then the Praise Team to lead us in worship thru music. God bless us all as we feel our way in this new environment. Read II Tim 1:6-7 – Notice from this verse, you either have fear, or you have God – but not both. God doesn’t deal in fear. So we need to ask ourselves this morning, who are we? Of the spirit of fear, or the Spirit of God. We often say we live in uncertain times. But never times like these, right? No matter how old you are, none of us has seen anything like this crisis which threatens to embrace us all with illness, death or loss. We are in uncharted territory. Uncharted to us – but not to God. As believers we have a place to turn – we have a person to turn to, and if ever there was a time, it is now. 1 C. S. Lewis once wrote: “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Well, the megaphone is out, Beloved. COVID-19 is no accident. It is God speaking loudly and clearly for all who will hear. And while God’s messages often include a warning of judgment to come, they always include a message of hope. Corona virus is no exception. In the midst of this crisis there is hope – but we must hear what He is saying. Isa 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thought, Nor are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. 9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways.” God does most things differently than we would. And sometimes it hurts. But we know this. He is always good; His ways are always righteous; He is always loving! So while we don’t know everything God is saying through this, let me suggest 3 that will help us thru. I. Not Fear, but Faith Fear is a powerful force. You have only to observe the panic lines at the stores to know that. We are faced with illness and possible death by a virus that is basically uncontrollable. That in turn has had a vast impact on the economy, jobs, supplies, and any sense of normalcy. And at the moment, there is no clear picture where it is all headed. It’s scary. We’re like the hillbilly who brought his bride to the new cabin he was building. She admired his work, but then asked, “Where the door?” He replied, “Door? You aimin’ to go someplace?” That’s us at the moment. We’ve a door, but we’re confined to quarters – trapped, under threat of loss with no end in sight. It’s nervewracking. Hard not to fear. So, what is the message? You are living by sight and not by faith. You’re Peter leaving the boat but then sinking when you put your eyes on the waves instead of Jesus. But I Tim 1:7: “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Fear of circumstances does not come from God. The two are incompatible. They cannot occupy the same heart at the same time. Either fear casts out faith, or faith casts out fear. So where are you living this morning. Fear or faith? You say, “Well, I want it to be faith, but right now fear seems to be winning. What do I do?” Peter answers: I Pet 5:7: “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” What’s the answer? Give it up. Give it all up. Take it to Him and leave it there. Our problem is we pray about it one minute and before we leave the room – we take it back! So, leave it again! We must give it up. It’s a test to see how real our faith really is. 2 Now I’ve heard a lot of faith these days that is nothing but presumption. I’ve heard people say, “This is overkill. I’m not afraid. I live by faith. I’ll go where I want, see who I want, shake hands with whom I want, and trust God to protect me.” May I say, that’s not faith. That’s foolish presumption. That is exactly the temptation Satan brought to Jesus in Luke 4:9-12: “And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10) for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11) and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Satan knows more Scripture than we do! And he knows how to misuse it to get us to presume on God. He’s tempting Jesus to jumpstart his ministry. “You’re sent by God? Great. Give the people a show. Jump off the temple and let God protect you. Claim His promise and the people will throng to you – great man of faith.” The temptation was real. But so was the lie. So, 12) And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Jesus fights Scripture with Scripture. He knew He didn’t have license to trust God to do for Him what He could do for Himself! That’s not faith; it’s presumption. So I don’t know if shaking hands with someone will kill you or not. But I know this. Right now, it could. And God is under no obligation to protect you if you won’t protect yourself. That’s testing God, not trusting God. That’s presumption, not faith. Let’s not go there. But as we take reasonable precautions, let’s diligently cast all our anxieties on Him – knowing He’ll do what’s good, righteous and loving. Let’s exercise and increase faith by giving to Him what we cannot control. Phil 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made know to God. 9) And the peace of God that passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. A man said to his friend, “Did I tell you about the time I came face-to-face with a lion?” “No, what happened?” “There I stood without a weapon. The lion growled ferociously as he crept closer and closer?” “So, what did you do?” “I moved on to the next cage.” Here’s the point. God already has this enemy surrounded. How far He let’s this go – up to Him. He’s in complete control. Got it caged. It’s for us to live in the good of that. Not fear, but faith. II. Not Despair, but Hope 3 Someone has said insecurity is arriving at a new job to find your name is written on the door -- in chalk – with a wet sponge hanging next to it. The brain flashes with uncertainty. Uncertainty eventually leads to despair. And some of are parked there this morning. What seemed locked in concrete a few days ago is now completely up for grabs. A fairly predictable future is suddenly a black hole of uncertainty. What’s the message? You’ve been looking for hope in all the wrong places. Hope is not ultimately found in any human medical team, bank account, military force or government program. You may have noticed. They can all fail. Hope is a Person – Jesus Christ. In Col 1:27, Paul calls “Christ, the hope of glory.” I Tim 1:1 “God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope.” If you are without Christ this morning, the message of this virus attack is – you can’t save yourself, and no human agency or program can save you. God’s megaphone to you is saying, “Turn to me and be saved.” Only He can give you eternal life, antidote or no. Billy Graham’s last public appearance was at a luncheon in Charlotte. He told the story how Albert Einstein once boarded a train to his home at Princeton. The conductor came through punching tickets. When Einstein couldn’t find his, the guy said, “Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all do. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it.” Einstein thanked him. But as he turned to leave the car, he saw Einstein down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. He rushed back, “Sir, I know who you are; no problem. I’m sure you bought a ticket.” Einstein looked at him and said, “Young man, I too know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going?” Then Billy Graham added, “See this suit? Brand new! My kids thought I’d gotten a little slovenly, so I bought a new suit for this luncheon – and for one more occasion. What occasion? This is the suit I’ll be buried in. But when that time comes, don’t think of this suit. I want you to remember this: I not only know who I am. I also know where I’m going.” That’s the certainty of hope in Christ. God’s message to unbelievers in this crisis is, hope is not found in a job, a bank account or even in cheating death. Ultimate hope is found in Jesus. Because if you have Him, you have all you’ll ever need. Even as believers, God is slowing us down for a reason? Yes, we know Christ. But our focus has been elsewhere. “For me to live is Christ”? Hah, that was for Paul, but that’s a little too extreme for me. Personal Bible study? Family devotions? Regular prayer? Went out the window a long time ago, replaced by all the distractions the world offers – many of them good, but not best. And now suddenly they’re gone. Sports are gone, shopping gone, the 4 bank account melting away. Maybe even the job is gone. Our stomach’s in a knot. Despair is rising. Why? We’ve put our hope in the wrong place. Gotten distracted. Maybe God’s giving us a little vacation to reassess priorities? A student at a college in FL was stopped by the dean who asked, “Are you an “A” student?” The girl replied, “Yes, mostly, but why do you ask?” He replied, “Bc you have no tan. Around here, the darker the tan, the lower the grade.” Distractions cheat us of what’s best. And when disaster strikes, they’re useless. We’ve put our hope in the wrong place. We panic. Doesn’t have to be that way. John Owen was a great but tragic theologian. He went from vice-chancellor of Oxford in the 1650’s to social exile when the monarchy returned. Buried all 11 of his children – and his wife, Mary. But thru pain, he hoped in Christ. At the death of his 10th child he wrote: “a due contemplation of the glory of Christ will restore and compose the mind . . . It will lift the hearts of believers above all the troubles of this life; it is God’s antidote that will expel all the poison of despair.” Panic/despair reveals misplaced hope. But as we look to Christ, we find, not despair, but hope! III. Not Isolation, but Love What will break the back of COVID-19? Isolation! If people don’t gather, they can’t pass the virus along. We should be leaders in implementing a sensible strategy of isolation – hard as it is. But we can’t let physical isolation lead to spiritual isolation. As people scramble to defend their own interests, we must be those who look out for the interests of others. Xns are different. During a great plague that swept the Roman Empire during the reign of Marcus Aurelius around 165, killing 1/3 of the population and probably the emperor, the pagan physician Galen fled Rom and hid in the countryside. Meantime, Xns often remained in the cities to care for fellow believers, as well as pagans who were left behind, sometimes at the cost of their own lives. This is not to suggest we rush out and put ourselves in harm’s way. But it is to suggest that we love others enough to do what we can to prevent the spread of this virus by abiding by the directives of those in charge – whether we agree or not. And it is to suggest we help pick up the pieces of those who are being laid low by illness, job loss, business closures, and financial setbacks. It requires us to share what we have, even if it diminishes – that we check on each other, shop for or drive the elderly, give where we can. It requires that 5 we love. I Jn 3:18: “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” While some people are hording supplies to sell at inflated prices, Steph Curry’s foundation is providing 1,000,000 meals for Oakland school kids for at least the next 3 weeks. Then he turned around and helped create a $1M fund to help 1,000 Chase Center hourly employees whose jobs are on pause as the building sits empty. That’s a Xn acting like a Xn. We can’t do that, but we can check on our neighbors and each other and help where we can. That’s God’s grace at work. Want to know grace? Paul said of the Philippian churches II Cor 8: 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.” They met the challenge of their time. Now, it’s our time. It’s our turn to give beyond our means – to beg earnestly for the privilege of giving help whenever and wherever we can. Let’s come out of this stronger than we go in, with more grace than before, and with our love overflowing for each other and our world. This is our time – not a time for fear – but a time for faith, hope and love in Christ or Lord. Conc – A pastor told a woman, “I noticed your husband walked out in the middle of the sermon. I hope I didn’t say anything that offended him.” She replied, “Oh, that. Not at all. My husband has been walking in his sleep for years.” Listen, Beloved, let’s not sleepwalk through this crisis and come out of it the same as we went in. God could have stopped it before it started. He didn’t. He’s speaking! He’s speaking to the world, and He’s speaking to us individually. So let’s revaluate priorities, seek Him out, pray diligently, make sure He’s first place in our lives – let’s reach out to others, not in fear, but in faith. II Tim 1:7: “For God has given us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” And most of all, let’s pray. Let’s pray alone; let’s pray together. And together, let’s claim this promise from Psa 91:10: “No evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.” Let’s pray. 6