Address The Mess

Intro

I think of a time when were going out of town for a week with the family. San Antonio, water park, Alamo, family fun of no worries and kids fighting...

All the prep work, packing, getting house ready. Night before we got a rotisserie chicken for dinner to make life easy.

Next morning, we turn up the ac because we are responsible adults, lock the doors and leave...

A week goes by and we come home. We are greeting in an unexpected way. A punch to the nose on entering the house.

IN all of our hustle, we had remembered everything except to take out the trash.

The old chicken sitting for a week in a warm house wasn’t very welcoming.

Interesting fact, the average american Discards 4.4 lbs of trash per day. That’s you. 1600 pounds of trash a year.

You are trashy...

We have discussed over this series that life is Messy. It has its share of unpredictability, unmet expectations, set backs. Mess, we’ve defined, is anything out of the proper order.

There is some mess that we have to traverse and go through, but there is some types of mess that we have to address.

We’ve been in Luke 6 where Jesus is preaching a sermon we call the Sermon on the Plain.

On a level area on the side of a mountain, surrounded by all types of people who have come to him. And he begins to teach.

Jesus starts a little trash talk.

Luke 6:37–38 (NIV)

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

the negative and the positive given back in proportion to how we give it ourselves.

It begins with us, It’s about me.

It’s much easier to call out someone else’s mess than to recognize my own.

You Judge and you be Judged, You condemn and You will be condemned, You forgive and you’ll be forgiven, You give and it will be given back.

I’m not measured by, responsible for what you do with your mess, but What I do with mine

It’s not you, it’s me...

We all have mess. Trash accumulates. No one is exempt.

The character, emotional, relational and spiritual junk that we have looks like a lot of things.

Pride, Envy, Greed, Anger, Lust, Bitterness, Unforgiveness… and it stinks.

Isn’t it funny how we measure our mess and other people different.

(2 different measuring sticks, yard stick and ruler)

Look at them. Mines not too bad.

This is usually how we deal with the mess:

3 D’s of Trash Duty

We deal with these almost every time it’s time to clean up and pick up.

Deny - I don’t have any. I’m good.

Too many of us are stuck in denial.

Deflect - That’s Their trash...

Always someone else’s problem, not mine.

Dismiss - It’s not that bad.

Others are much worse. It’s not effecting that much.

We never deal with what we don’t determine is ours.

we have to take extreme ownership of our own mess.

I have trash, and it stinks.

is my life a mess, because my own undealt with mess?

God measures back what we measure out.

Not in the same way. Heaven meets our humanity when say it starts with me.

Luke 6:39–40 (NIV)

He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

This really is a little trash talk, he is using the religious leaders as an object lesson.

People who haven’t dealt with them selves are leading other and leading them into deeper trash pits.

He’s saying, as his followers, don’t be like them.

You are a leader! You have influence.

People are around you, watching you, emulating you and being impacted by you.

Your spouse, kids, coworkers, church, etc.

Your trash isn’t just your problem.

Luke 6:41–42 (NIV)

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Quit looking at them look at you. Look at their little when we have massive.

Hypocrisy! Looking at yours and minimizing mine.

Blind. can’t even see life correctly because of the plank!

We have to address the mess.

Deal with the stink in the room. (It’s me)

It’s time to pluck the plank.

It’s time to do something about it.

Sometimes we don’t want to deal with it because we have become defined by it.

Some of us prefer to sit in the trash heap, because it’s become part of our identity.

My pride is how I get along,

I just get angry and then it’s ok,

I’m lustful, look at things, tell those jokes but it’s no big deal,

Greed is how i’ve gotten ahead..

Proverbs 15:14 (NIV)

The discerning heart seeks knowledge,

but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

Without dealing with the mess, taking out the trash, it only accumulates, overtakes and destroys (your life and others)

Luke 6:43–45 (NIV)

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

It always reveals itself. Can’t hid it for very long.

Some people say, oh you don’t know what’s in the heart, but the bible makes it clear that the fruit of our lives has its roots in our hearts.

If you were to juice the fruit of your lives, what kind of beverage is it. Bitter? Sour? Scorching spice?

In the difficult moments, the alone moments, in the pressure moments,

We know it, we see it, honestly so do others.

the hard work is the heart work

but it’s also the lasting work that changes everything else.

When we get serious about this trash it’s when real freedom happens.

We have to address the mess.

Let’s take out the trash.

One of my least favorite chores. Not sure why, I just hate it. Every seems to dread trash duty.

But it’s worse if you miss trash day.

Trash company has specifics on how they want the trash handled.

Certain days, So far from the road, Specific things, in bags.

How do we address the mess in our lives?

IDENTIFY THE JUNK

We’ve denied, dismissed and deflected too long. Maybe you’ve been afraid to admit it...

Be specific.

Call it out.

What is it that keeps coming up and out of you?

Unhealthy envy, Anger, etc.

Confront it. Call it out.

Think about yoru life long term, what is that thing, that if left unchecked, Will keep you from where you need to be spiritually, emotionally, relationally.

The impact of others, my kids.

Probably more than one thing, deal with them individually.

Sometimes trash is gross, ever had to go through it because something you lost!

Not dealing with is is worse.

BRING IT

It’s not enough to know it’s there. It’s time to deal with it.

Bring it to Jesus.

Bringing that trash to the curb requires something of me, but I don’t have to go to the dump. I don’t have to complete the work.

I do something, Christ completes it!

Confess

Proverbs 28:13 (NIV)

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,

but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Change! (repent)

Acts 3:19 (NIV)

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

We probably need to change a few things that fuels the trash.

Depend

It’s not our power that takes care of these character and sin flaws in us.

Philippians 2:13 (NIV)

for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

It is GOD!!

Not will power, god power.

I drop it, he picks it up.

We hear that rumble every tuesday and friday. WE peak out the window, its so exciting, someone else is coming to deal with our garbage, all I did was drop it off in the place for them to do their work.

Jesus isn’t really in the trash business. He’s in the recycle business...

Philippians 3:8–9 (NIV)

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

We bring him the trash, the replaces with his measure in treasure!!

He died for our sin and our junk and mess and shame.

CELEBRATE WINS

when you didn’t blow up, Rejoice!!

When you didn’t...

CONTINUE

This is continual. Because We are in a fallen word and the mess keeps coming.

Just like trash day is continual, so is this.

CONCLUSION

is there some mess you’ve been concealing, not ready or willing to deal with?

What freedom can be on the other side of trash duty?

Let’s address the mess.