Rebound

THEME 2021: THE CHURCH HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

REBOUND (2 CHRONICLES 7:12-21)

INTRODUCTION

I’m a Kentuckian and in Kentucky basketball is king. Any basketball aficionado knows that for every missed shot there is a rebound which gives another opportunity to score a basket. It’s a chance to retry. Any good rebounder knows the steps to secure the ball. Boxing out is necessary to prevent an opponent from retrieving the ball. Jumping with proper timing, securing the ball with two hands, and strength all make for a great rebounder.

I recall Coach Jim Valvano won his NCAA championship. “Dereck Whittenburg heaved a 30-foot shot as time expired, and Lorenzo Charles grabbed it in the air [essentially a rebound] and dunked it to give the Wolfpack the win.”[1] That championship was won because of what amounts to a rebound, or a second chance basket as the clock ran out. It was a last-ditch effort to get it right and win!

Outside the sport of basketball a rebound is a do over, recovery, bounce back, or simply another chance to get something right. We’ve all at one time or another needed another chance to get it right. We needed to rebound. We’ve made mistakes, taken wrong turns, spoken out of turn or some other egregious sin and needed an opportunity to redo it and correct that wrong. There are times when all you need is another shot, a second chance, which makes all the difference in the world!

An apology is a chance to make a relationship right. A change in behavior is an opportunity to instill trust. Going back to what got you to a successful place that has turned into failure is making a comeback. Rebounds are openings in the flow of life which make it possible to correct some wrong or make a second, better than the first impression.

And the thing I’ve found out in life is that all of us, at some point in time, need to rebound from some error in our ways. And when it comes to the Church and serving the Lord we each stand guilty of some move that we shouldn’t have made or some decision we wish we could do over, or a misspoken word we want to take back. As the writer Paul exclaimed, “We’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

We miss the mark often but when we do aren’t you glad that we have an occasion to rebound and get it right the next time? As in life so we find in this text the probability of messing up and what we need to do regarding how God intends for us to make a rebound.

In life and the Church movement how do we rebound from misguided mission statements, vacuous visions, and problematic purpose statements? What can we do when our ideas of church have diverted from God’s design? When there is no sync between what we’re doing and what God has given us to do there is a need for another opportunity for us to fix our mistakes. Thank God for another chance to rebound from our sins and erroneous ideologies on what Church really ought to be.

It’s no social club where we simply gather, meet, eat, and have a good time. It’s not a place to just come on Sunday and shout all of our troubles away. It’s so much more than a praise party which delivers us from our struggles or even gives us hope. Nothing is particularly wrong with any of these ideas but isn’t church more about getting out into the world with the gospel, baptizing new believers, teaching the ways of the Lord, and sending them out to do meaningful ministry?

I believe we must rebound from our narrowly misplaced focus and refocus on evangelism, ministry, and pleasing God! And in this text, the potential for Israel to miss their mission and get off track is balanced by the opportunity to rebound, get back on task, and once again please the God they serve. It gives us insight into how we must do the same. There are four clear steps in the path to a rebound and in the midst of this pandemic where many of us have lost sight of who the Church really is and what we must be about. It’s high time we understand these concepts so that we can get a rebound and fix what is wrong.

RELINQUISH CONTROL

Humility has to do with relinquishing control, surrendering to a higher up so to speak. It is not high-minded, puffed up or thinking too highly of self. Humility requires us to relinquish control because it assumes that someone is stronger, better equipped or more qualified. The Hebrew word literally carries the idea to be humbled or subdued. That would suggest the humbled is in some way less than, whether from societal constraints or a self-imposed mental posture.

Humble yourself. It is a reflexive action. It is within us to come to God in humble submission to His will, understanding that He is infinitely more qualified and worthy to make every decision which regards our lives and especially His Church. God knows exactly what He’s doing but we don’t always get it. In order to fall in line with God we must surrender our own will. “Thy kingdom come.” For that to happen your kingdom and mine must go.

If the Church is to rebound there ought to be some humility which leads to confession. Humbleness says I didn’t always get it right even when I tried with all I had. Humbly understand that we have made mistakes and failed to do all that God has assigned us. Our evangelism hasn’t always been a priority. Ministry takes a back seat because we claim there’s no money.

A rebound by definition suggests that something went wrong and needs correcting. We need a turnaround. The truly humble will admit that they have strayed from God and need to get back on course. It’s past time to evaluate our mission and methods and realign them with what matters most to God.

That’s where we are today. We should rediscover what God is doing in the world. Rather than pray for Him to align with our voted agenda, we must realign with His existing agenda. To admit that we’ve gone astray takes real humility. Nobody wants to admit that we’ve missed it.

Once we’ve truly humbled ourselves before God there is another step to rebound.

REQUEST CONCILIATION

Pray for yourself and the nation. The people of God must be in prayer for the nation in which they live. If we view this pandemic and many other troubles which we are now facing as punishment from God then somebody must petition God on behalf of the nation and Church to see us through this time of difficulty. That is by definition conciliation. Standing in the gap on behalf of someone is intercession or conciliation. Often the idea behind it is reconciliation, obtaining God’s forgiveness and a change of circumstance with regard to the problems at hand and bridging the fellowship gap between God and His people.

The reflexive nature of this verb suggests a prayer of intercession. Do you realize that for months we’ve been praying for ourselves, the Lord’s Church, as well as our nation in matters of this pandemic, protests, racial unrest, police killings, our sick and shut-ins, etc. That’s intercession and in order to conciliate there should also be a sense of corrective measures we intend to put into place.

When punishment for failure is our lens, correction and conciliation are of primary concern in our prayers for both the Church and nation. If you want to get God’s attention in your prayer life then admit where you’ve been wrong. Confess your faults. He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse (1 John 1:9).

Now I may not know why you’re in the situation that has caused you so much pain but I can pray to God to remove the pain and fix the situation. You don’t need all the details of a problem but you can ask God to step in and solve it anyhow. If wrongs have been committed then pray for God’s forgiveness and mercy to remove wrath. That is conciliation and intercession. We all need it sometimes.

When our country fails to live up to its promise that all men are created equal we can pray that God will step into that quagmire and forgive this nation from the sins against Black people over the last 400 years. And then intervene so that the powers that be will do right by an entire segment of this country who labored that others might become rich. God’s people must pray for government if we are to rebound as a nation.

In order to rebound we have to pray for clear corrective measures. Reparations would be a good start. When you’ve been wrong you ought to want to get right again. The nature of a genuine believer is to talk to the Lord about all of the struggles and mistakes they’ve made and seek to fix what went wrong. A so-called Christian nation ought to want to do that!

RECONNECT CLAUSE

Once we relinquish control and request conciliation the third step is the reconnect clause.

If the Church expects to rebound during this period of pandemic then we will need to seek the face of God. That’s a reconnect clause. To move forward despite all that is going on we will have to reconnect intimately with God! That is the essence of seeking His face.

The Hebrew word for face is commonly used for being in the presence of Yahweh, God. Seeking His face is in reference to seeking an audience with God for the purpose of better understanding, knowing His will, or gaining favor from Him. Seeking His face is tantamount to seeking God Himself.

When you’re out of favor with God, seeking His face is one way to return to His good graces!

The context here is this newly constructed temple, the place where God could be found and worship along with sacrifice were to be offered. Whenever you’re disconnected you must seek to be reconnected if that relationship and fellowship is important. I never want to be out of step with God or in conflict with His will. I must reconnect for clarity’s sake.

Reconnecting with God best takes place in worship. That occurs in His house on a regular basis. Here we come before n humble submission, pray, and seek His face to reconnect with the Holy. If you want clarity of His will and understanding about His purposes then showing up for worship is the right thing to do. But private worship is just as crucial as public gathering. So if we are out of the building then worship in private plus virtually is incredibly important to the Church finding her way in the midst of crisis.

If the Church is to rebound, get another shot, continue to minister meaningfully, and worship consistently then we must earnestly seek to reconnect with God through worship. That includes singing the songs of Zion and remembering how we’ve made it this far. Worship includes sacrifice and giving, prayer and the word.

An earnest effort has to be made to reconnect with God to ensure that we are staying on task, completing our assignment as His Church, and maintaining a real presence in a society which is looking for answers in a world gone mad! That happens in worship. In the text the worshipper wasn’t always going to be in the building but if they just turned in the direction of the temple, even in a foreign land, God would hear their prayers.

Wherever we are in the world, in this building or not, God is able to hear our prayers and acknowledge our worship. Reconnect with God today. Offer genuine worship wherever you are.

RETURN CONDITION

We have the reconnect clause and then there is the return condition.

The final piece required for the Church to rebound from this pandemic and continue to do what matters most to God is to return to Him. It is the fourth condition offered by God to Solomon when havoc breaks out and it is instructive for us in times like these. The requirement for this world to be righted and see some progress I believe is that the Church must return to the Lord in earnest repentance. Owning our disobedience is a condition of that return. Operating in the things that please God is a condition.

The conditions of repentance and correction of behavior will improve our outcomes. We usually view repentance as turning from one thing to another. In this case it would be turning from error back to God.

The Hebrew word literally means to return or go back. This is why the prognosis in conditioned upon the responses of God’s people and not the rest of the world. To go back suggests that you once where in that place. It is only for believers to return to serving God in sincerity and truth. We must go back to the basics of worship and fellowship, even while out of the building, teaching virtually, evangelism, and ministry out of the building.

If we would see healing in the world, racism remedied, a pandemic over, and our economic angst eliminated, it will be conditioned on how God’s people respond to a warning from Him to return. Somebody might describe it as getting back to that old time religion. Others might suggest that it is getting back to the basics. Still others might view it as getting back to a Christ-centered ministry approach. But the fact remains that we must return to the things that got us through when we were in trouble that last time.

CONCLUSION

This response to Solomon’s prayer, directly from God, and helpful to us informs God’s people that they must humble themselves, pray, and seek God’s face, and then turn from their wicked ways and back to God’s ways. That let’s me know that we must go back to the gospel. That’s a mighty good place to revisit.

Every now and then we need to return to that old landmark outside the city gates of Jerusalem and return back to the old story of Jesus. You do know that story? It speaks of a world filled with sins and God’s love and plan to redeem that world. It tells of Jesus, the Son of the Living God, Who came down through 42 generations and was born in that little town of Bethlehem, in a stable on the edge of town.

It’s the story of how Jesus was raised in Nazareth and made His ministry headquarters in Capernaum. That story we need to get back to tells us how Jesus came forth preaching that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. He healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, and then got into trouble with the religious authorities.

He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, marched from court to court, accused of crimes He had not committed. I heard one preacher say that He was guilty of being innocent. He was beaten, marched up Golgotha’s hill, nailed to a cross, lifted between earth and sky. And there He died on dark Friday about midday.

He was taken down, buried in Joseph’s new tomb but early on the third day morning Jesus rose from the grave, came back from the dead, returned from hell and declared that all authority in heaven and earth was His to command. He stepped on a cloud, went back to glory but one day He’s coming back. Do I have a witness?

[1] Jim Valvano: Career retrospective | Yardbarker, accessed February 5, 2021.