Denial, Doubt, & Deliverance

Children’s Sermon

Holy hand soap…do we deny it works? No…do we doubt it works? Perhaps sometimes...Do you meet anyone who denies it works? Probably not

Scripture

1 John 4:1-6 - Dear friends, don’t believe everyone is telling you the truth. Carefully test what you hear to see if it is from God, for many false things exist in the world. Here’s how you know the Spirit of God: those who confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, those who don’t confess faith in Jesus is not from God. Those who don’t confess have the spirit of the antichrist, who is coming and even now is in the world. Children, you are from God and you have conquered the antichrists. The Spirit who is in you is greater than anything in the world! Those who are in the world speak from the perspective of the world and the world listens to them. We are from God. Those who know God listen to us and those who don’t know God don’t listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

1 John 4:18-19 - There is no fear in love, perfect love kicks fear out! Fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears hasn’t reached perfection in love. We love Christ because he first loved us.

Engage

Several weeks ago, I was helping my father-in-law install a back screen door at his house. As we opened the box and got started, we realized we needed a drill to drill holes in the door itself and in the doorframe. Now, we had a drill, and he owns drill bits, but we didn’t know where the drill bits were. They hadn’t been unpacked yet. Now, either the door was going to be installed or it wasn’t. So, I went and bought some drill bits so that the door could in fact be installed without digging through every moving box. We ended up not just reading the instructions and thinking about installing the door, right? We actually installed the door and it’s working!

Encounter

Our faith as disciples of Christ, friends, is actionable. We do use our minds, we do have instructions in the form of Holy Scripture and Christian history, but ultimately our faith turns to action. John simplifies our actions here by saying either we confess Jesus has come in the flesh and was sent by God, or he didn’t and wasn’t. There are ultimately, in the eternal sense, only two teams in the universe. Team Jesus and Team Satan. Now, perhaps you remember when you were a kid and captains were picking teams in kickball or whatever…Or, even as an adult, perhaps, like me, you’ve done some hiring. What do you look at when picking a sports team or hiring an employee? Some people overly focus on outward appearance. Ooh, I’m going to pick the big tall strong looking kid for basketball, for instance. Sometimes appearances can be deceiving! Maybe he has two left feet and is better at playing backgammon than basketball. I remember once a boss I worked for hired a new secretary. Let’s just say I think it was fairly obvious he was looking mostly at external qualities. She was nice enough, I guess, but when it came to administrative tasks, she was out to lunch not just during her lunch hour. I remember once said boss and I were preparing for a trip to Brazil, as I recall. His passport needed renewing and we paid a travel company to expedite it…So, the trip is coming soon, and he asks her, impatiently, has my passport come? Nope, haven’t seen anything of it. He was mad…it was supposed to be expedited, we paid extra for rushing it through a travel agent, etc. I began to search the tornado like scene of her workspace. There it was, the envelope under a bunch of other stuff. He about hit the roof!

Many look at external things, but harder is looking to the heart of a person. Some are very good at this but it’s difficult. We have the tools, mainly the Bible. The Bible, prayer, asking for the Holy Spirit, are tremendous tools that are underutilized. Do we use a Bible to drill a hole in a screen door? Of course not. But, neither should we use just our eyes in discerning false things from true things.

Now, when it comes to our faith, we face challenges. Attacks, even, from Team Satan. Carefully test, John says. How? Using the tools we have! My guideline would be this…avoid denial, ascribe doubt, and anticipate deliverance. Avoid denial, ascribe doubt, anticipate deliverance. John writes to carefully test to his audience because he KNEW they would be tested. Everyone who believes in Christ will be tempted to deny him, likely many times. Life’s experiences can do this…the antichrists within and without the church can do this, as we examined a couple of weeks ago. But, if we setup the proper boundaries in our hearts and minds, we can avoid denial. When we’re tempted, it just isn’t an option. Christ is Lord, period.

I was talking with someone earlier this week…and our discussion, summarized, focused on the difference between dogma and doctrine…It’s alright to come and go, to deny certain dogmas…Doctrines are what we hold strong and fast too…Jesus is Lord is a doctrine, for example.

Now, doubts will come too. Even doubts that won’t necessarily lead to denial. For example, you might think, I know Christ is Lord, I believe he existed and was resurrected, but is he really good? I see all this evil in the world…is Christ, is God really good? When doubts like this or others come, friends, ascribe them. Ascribe means to attribute to…assign to. What can we assign our doubts to? Satan, for one, or those doing his will. You might be able to truthfully say, I’m doubting because such and so is making me doubt…Pressuring me to doubt…Ascribe that doubt to them and assign to them..and don’t assign it to yourself. Doubt may also be coming from something in your past or something deep inside you…remnants from your family system, remnants from prior experiences at work or friendships or relationships, for example. There are people who’ve never known someone they could trust…so, doubt is a regular in their lives no matter the subject. Most everyone has failed them. But, if we can search and find some understanding of the source of our doubt, we can ascribe it…and stop carrying it.

Finally, anticipate deliverance. Jesus promises that, even now, and especially in eternity, he wins. He is Lord. He is good. He will deliver those he loves from evil. Anticipate it. Like I mentioned with dessert a few weeks ago, sometimes when you’re anticipating a great dessert, you can begin to taste it even before it’s anywhere near you. Just this morning, as I went into the preschool kitchen to make coffee, I discovered there were some leftover cupcakes on the counter. Ah, bless the precious one who left them! Before I even took a bite of that cupcake, part of which ended up on my shirt, I could TASTE the deliciousness coming my way. And so it is with deliverance from Christ, he IS near us. He is with us. And he longs to deliver us in accordance with his eternal purposes. If we obey him, he’ll deliver us EVEN NOW.

Our belief is actionable! Carefully testing means using the tools we have and tuning those tools for the job. One of the careers of brother Pete was sharpening. Sharpening lawnmower and tractor blades, chainsaw blades, discs for tilling, that sort of thing. A dull blade isn’t sufficient for the job…in fact it often may do more harm than good. Sharpen your blades! Jesus has given us the tools and the path to do so…and it’s all free!

There’s nothing wrong with doubt, friends, but it also doesn’t belong. We are to root it out., to ascribe it. Doubt happens and hinders, denial halts. When we deny the eternal truths of Christ, we run the risk of doing so for all eternity. And, I don’t want that for anyone.

Now, John addresses something else today. Fear. Fear is a close cousin to doubt and depression and other emotions. John, I believe correctly, associates fear with punishment. What if Christ doesn’t love me? What if he’s really a mean ogre? What punishment will be coming to ME, to those I love, to my friends, as a result? Perfect love drives out fear, John says. As we grow closer to perfection in love, a very Wesleyan concept, our fears diminish or even disappear.

Further, do we fear the fruits of the Spirit? Of course not, not a single fruit of the Spirit is something we fear. Also, John says we love Christ because he FIRST loved us. What does that mean? Christ was there at creation, friends. He was there the moment God created US, long before we were born into this life. He’s loved us all that time…You know how hard it is to kill a first love? Almost impossible. In fact, with Christ, I think it likely is not possible. He’ll grant those who choose it separation from him BECAUSE he truly loves them and values their free choice. When we tune our tools to look to Jesus more and more often, we build confidence and we build love…that love which drives out fear and gives us faith in Jesus’ goodness. As John says, God has proven countless times that he is mightier than anything the world, Satan, or his followers can dish out. Just look at the resurrection as exhibit A.

Say it with me, what lives in me....is mightier than anything in the world. Again...

Empower

There was a little girl named Nellie who was afraid of the dark. She was so afraid that she slept next to her dads bed in a crib. She’d wake up, realize it’s dark, and say, it’s dark, daddy, it’s dark, take Nellie’s hand. He would take her hand and she’d go right back to sleep, her little hand in his.

We’ll find ourselves in the dark plenty too. And no matter what our earthly father is or was like, we have an eternal father who will never say no to taking our hand. There’s no sin in asking. He’s always right there…and when we tune ourselves to him, his presence removes our fear.

May it be for each and every one of you...

Pray