Purposeful Worship Through the Dark of Night

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“A LOVELIER CHRISTIAN FAMILY you couldn’t hope to find—a husband, his wife, and three wonderful children. Who would have guessed what lay ahead for them? And who could explain why? It happened in the time when the family’s cup of happiness was overflowing. Mom’s prayers for another baby had been answered. The doctors told her a fourth child—a son—was on his way. Husband and wife were busily planning for the new arrival. And the best place for that kind of planning was the walks they took together. Even before Mom’s pregnancy, the couple had regularly enjoyed a ‘daily constitutional’ just after dinner for exercise and chat. Now, with the baby coming, Mom felt the mild exercise made even more sense. But this evening, on their way out the door, the phone rang. It was an important business call Dad had been expecting. ‘Go on ahead,’ he whispered to his wife, his hand over the transmitter. ‘I’ll come jogging to catch up with you in a minute.’
But the phone call lasted just a bit longer than he had expected. Just a few extra minutes—tragic extra minutes. In the same little neighborhood, a teenager pulled the family car into his driveway. As he emerged, he saw the scrape on the fender. The sight confirmed his worst suspicions. During his drive, the young man had heard and felt an unsettling thump. He hadn’t seen a thing, but it felt as if the car had hit a dog, a deer, or something of the kind. That’s what he told his father a few moments later. Father didn’t like the sound of it. He said, ‘Let’s get in the car and retrace your route. We need to know what it was that scraped the fender.’ And so they backed out of the driveway and re-traveled the young man’s original route. As they cruised slowly along, they came across a neighbor who also seemed to be looking for something. Father rolled down the window and asked what it might be. “I’m looking for my wife,” said the neighbor. ‘We were heading out for a walk, but she left before me while I was on the phone. Now I can’t seem to find her.’ Yes, the next portion of this story is obvious enough. After another moment, both parties had found what they were looking for. Her neck was broken, and she was lying in a ditch—dead. A lovely Christian mother carried into the next world the child who never saw the light of day. Two separate families were torn with grief.
Why would such a thing happen in this world? Why would it happen to good people? How could God, loving and merciful, allow such a thing? When I first heard this story, I shook my head sadly. And yet it’s just one of countless such stories you and I hear in a lifetime—every year, really. I imagine you could share a tale just as true and just as tragic. Most of us know the feeling of personal catastrophe far too intimately.” (End quote)
This morning we conclude our sermon series on worship through suffering. As this story and quote from Dr. David Jeremiah’s book My Heart’s Desire so tragically conveys- pain and suffering is universal. We may encounter it to different degrees of intensity but each and every one of us has experienced pain.
When facing tragedy, loss, or hardship it is all too easy to get lost in the darkness. There is a way however, to navigate through those long dark hours of night. As we have learned in the other sermons of this series, worship can help us navigate through the dark difficult seasons of one’s life.
That brings us to our first point this morning and it is borrowed from pastor Louie Gigglio.
Sermon Points
1. “Use worship to help you view the problem through what you know of the character of God, instead of viewing God through the nature of the problem.”
Earlier I said that pain is a universal experience. It is a part of life. Hardship, struggle, pain, suffering are all a part of the human experience. I am not here this morning to deal with the question why. I would be lying to you if I were to tell you I know why because I don’t. Someday, I hope to ask God that very question. In my own personal experience, I find that focusing on the “why,” however, leads only to further hurt, anger, and suffering.
You see, when navigating through the darkness you can easily get lost if you focus only on the pain. And trying to understand the why of it… is focusing on that pain. Here let me demonstrate it for you.
(Hold up a solid cardboard triangle and put it in front of your face and tell the audience…)
This triangle represents the problem you are facing. When you focus on just the problem, it quickly disrupts your view. (Hold up a cardboard outline of a triangle with the ability to see through its middle and say…)
This triangle represents the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
When giving this illustration,
Pastor and speaker Louie Gigglio explains,
“When we are in that dark place, often times all we can see is the problem. All we see is the death, the brokenness, the pain, the hurt, the injustice, the thing that went wrong, the crash, the burn, or the ashes. All we see is the problem. (put the solid triangle between you and the audience so they can’t see your face. Pause as you turn to each side of the room and let them each see your ‘triangle’ vision) And if we are not careful the problem will become so prevalent in our thinking and in our vision that it will block our view of Father- Son- and Holy Spirit- the almighty holy God. (hold up the solid triangle again and then put the triangle outline on the other side of the solid one so you cannot see it, then put them down) And if we are not careful the problem will block out our ability to see the goodness of God.”
(end quote)
If you focus on the suffering instead of on the goodness of God- then the hardships you face, the pain you endure, and your unmet expectations may have the power to extinguish your faith all together. I cannot tell you how many times I have talked with someone who can pin point the moment they lost their faith in God to the moment when they experienced hardship, when they started to view God through the nature of their problem- through the disappointment of their unmet human expectations- instead of looking at the problem through the nature of God. And almost to a man, every single one of them feel the loss. What I mean by that is this- instead of holding onto faith they are holding onto bitterness. Instead of having hope they have fear. Instead of being filled with inner peace they are filled with inner turmoil.
Do you remember the Fruit of the Spirit- those beautiful characteristics that the Holy Spirit enriches our lives with such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control… Church, if we don’t keep our eyes on WHO God is and what He has already done for us in Jesus and instead focus on the problem then the darkness may steal our joy, our peace, our gentleness, our love. Friends, when we focus on the problem- we can so easily get lost in the darkness. The darkness can break us; leaving us weak, bitter, or even faithless. Don’t let the darkness steal from you!
So what does this have to do with worship? Well, as we learned a few weeks ago, we can use worship as a weapon to help us navigate through the difficult seasons of our lives. Worship, true worship, can help us to focus on God, on declaring who He is, and what He has already done for us.
Friends, worship in times of suffering is not ignoring or making light of the problem we face. Instead, as Louie Giglio explains,
“it allows us to view the problem through what I know of the character of God. Instead of viewing God through the nature of the problem… (hold up the triangles, but this time put the outline first and the solid one behind it so you view the solid one through the outline). I can choose to view the problem through the frame of the faithfulness of my God… I am choosing to view God first and everything else through what I know God to be and when that happens things begin to change in our lives. Worship becomes a weapon in the midnight hour.”
Think back to our opening story this morning as I share
Dr. Jeremiah’s conclusion of that account.
“This tragic story in itself isn’t so hard to believe; what I find more amazing is the sequel. In a small Baptist church in that very community, a few weeks later, a man stood up to address the congregation one Sunday. The whole church fell silent as they watched him rise, slowly and sadly, yet purposely. He cleared his throat and began to speak of the goodness of God. He praised the name of the sovereign Lord who rules every part of this world and every part of our lives. Before his amazed friends and acquaintances, he testified to the goodness and grace of God in times of suffering and loss. To God be the glory—always, in hard times and good ones. Life has its holocausts—that’s not news. The real story is the persistence of glory rising from the ashes… Within the context of the worst life can dish out, many people come to love and to glorify God more deeply…” (end quote)
Church, through worship we can declare the truth about God and His relationship to us even as we endure pain and heart ache: (feel free to follow each declaration by singing a line of a hymn or chorus that includes that truth. If you want to do this, I have included suggestions. If you do, then I suggest not quoting the Bible verses but instead posting them on the screen. If you don’t then I suggest you quote each Bible verse)
Truths of God
· God is the same God no matter what season of life you are in.
Hebrews 13:8 states,
Hebrews 13:8 NIV
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Creator God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His ability to be there for you does not change. No matter what is happening in the world around you- God is stable- constant- a rock you can rely on.
· He is a faithful God
Deuteronomy 7:9 states,
Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
He is faithful to fulfill His promise to never leave you nor forsake you.
· He is a God of love
as Romans 8:38-39 declares,
Romans 8:38–39 NIV
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
His love for you does not alter or waver. It cannot be taken away or lost.
· He is a God of mercy
as Ephesians 2:4-5 state,
Ephesians 2:4–5 NIV
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
His mercy towards you is not dependent on what you have done or what others have done to you.
Like Hebrews 4:16 encourages,
Hebrews 4:16 NIV
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
· He is a God of compassion
Matthew 11:28-29 so beautifully conveys,
Matthew 11:28–29 NIV
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
When we do this church- when we worship God for who He is, we refuse to allow the situation to steal our faith. But that is not all.
Take a look at our second point this morning
2. When we worship, even in the dark seasons, we can fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. Not just our purpose to glorify our Creator but to also further the gospel.
We see this powerfully demonstrated for us in Acts 16:25. Here, the apostle Paul and Silas are in jail. I can picture them now, beaten bloody, the two men huddle in the inner most cell of the prison. They prop each other up, as their blackened and bruised feet are shackled to the floor. Yes, it is a grim picture.
But their day didn’t start out that grim. Earlier Paul and Silas were busy proclaiming Jesus’ love and sharing the gospel story in Philippi, when they came across a slave girl. The girl was tormented by a fortune telling demon. Being more concerned for the girl’s wellbeing then her owner’s profit, they cast the demon out.
Seeing the danger the girl’s deliverance posed to their fortune telling business, the slave girl’s owners were furious. They incited a crowd to join them in attacking Paul and Silas. The apostles were thus stripped, beaten with rods, and thrown in jail.
A moment ago, I gave a picture of Paul and Silas in their jail cell and now, I would like you to take a moment and picture yourself in that cell with them. Its nearing the midnight hour and you are engulfed in darkness. You can hear the slow drip, drip, drip of Silas’ blood pooling on the floor and the scurry of critter feet against the stone upon which you sit. You can feel the sting of welts on your back and the sharp pain of a broken rib. In that dark moment- what do you do?
Do you mummer to your companions? Do you grumble about your circumstances? Do you question God? After all, sharing your faith in Jesus is what got you in this mess… Do you blame Him? Do you yell insults to the guards whose rods beat you only a few short hours ago? Or perhaps you slump dejected and broken as you give in to despair?
Maybe… just maybe… you do the unthinkable. Voice low, weak from thirst, and through cracked and swollen lips you sing “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I am found was blind but now I see.” (Or use whatever worship chorus/hymn lyrics you feel fit best).
That is what Paul and Silas did. They did the unthinkable.
Acts 16:25 reveals,
Acts 16:25 NIV
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Friends, these men chose not to let the beatings, the shackles, or the dark prison cell to define their God- (hold up the triangles the solid one first with the outline one behind it). No, they chose to let God define the prison (switch the triangles so you can view the solid one through the outline one).
They worshipped their never changing, ever faithful, loving, merciful, compassionate God and He met them in the middle of that midnight hour!
They were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them… reading from verse 26, “and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.”
(mouth almost silently) WOW. Paul and Silas worshiped and the power of God showed up and shook the prison walls. What an amazing miracle- but you know what? I find what comes next to be even more incredible.
Acts 16: 27-34,
Acts 16:27–34 ESV
When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
Paul and Silas’ act of worship, even in the midst of their suffering, was purposeful. It not only brought glory to God but helped to testify to the jailer and all his family. Had the apostles grumbled instead of praised- perhaps they would have missed this amazing opportunity.
Paul and Silas’ suffering was not meaningless, it led to their being in just the right place to witness to the Jailer and all of his family about God’s love. Notice how the earthquake, although breaking the shackles and opening the prison doors, did not change the apostle’s situation that much. They were still prisoners. They did not jump up and lead a prison break. Perhaps they could have, but they chose not to. Why?
Listen, (long pause) maybe it was because the apostles’ worship had helped them focus on the goodness of their God instead of on their pain -their worship changed them, it focused them, and it had purpose. Instead of thinking only of themselves and their own comfort, Paul and Silas chose to stay and lead a prison wide revival. Throughout the night, the prisoners and jailer heard their song’s of praise and perhaps they wondered, “who are they singing to?” We know this much for sure, whatever they sang in worship was enough of a testimony to prompt the jailer to later ask, “what must I do to be saved”. The apostles still suffered the effects of being beaten, they still had to face the magistrates in the morning- but their worship had affected their own hearts and the hearts of those around them.
It is easy to worship God when everything in your life is going smoothly, but when you choose to worship God in the dark and difficult seasons of your life, people notice.
Let me close this morning with a quote from Charles Spurgeon,
“Through worship, your sorrow itself shall be turned into joy. Not the sorrow to be taken away, and joy to be put in its place, but the very sorrow which now grieves you shall be turned into joy. Through the act of worship, God not only takes away the bitterness and gives sweetness in its place, but turns the bitterness into sweetness itself.”
Let us pray.
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