Arrows | Pierced

Likewise, from this Psalm, arrows represent our children. I think most parents wish these dreams over their children. Your parents for you, and you for your children.

For mine, my wife and I pray daily that our children soar into adulthood to provide, defend, advance, protect, and win victory for the sake of their families one day and for Jesus and his kingdom!

My boy, Levi, recently learned how to ‘roar’ like a lion. RAWR! He RAWR’s at his sister. He RAWR’s at his baby brother. He RAWR’s at his mother. I love watching my little man cub feel his strength and use his voice. I am so much enjoying the beginnings of forming my arrows and carving their points.

My daughter, Hannah, now loves to dance and count and sing her ABC’s.

But recently, this same daughter of mine during a total emotional breakdown told my wife, “I want to be mad at you.”

Ugh! I asked my wife if she felt hurt, and she responded, ‘it always hurts.’ Ugh, this same beautiful girl who cuddles with us and twirls like a ballerina sometimes speaks such immature words to us that just pierce our hearts. She’s 4, we wouldn’t expect anything different, but it still hurts.

Family is a roller coaster of emotions, isn’t it?

And all of us ride it, with all of its misunderstandings and hurts and joys and fears. Sometimes, it seems like we’re all just holding on for dear life, doesn’t it?

Can we just be honest?

Family is hard. Family is complicated. Families wound and pierce one another - sometimes unintentionally, but other times with real intent to do harm.

I think most parents launch their arrows into the world with a deep sense of hope and optimism.

Yet, our flaws, our brokenness, our shortcomings, even our best intentions at times, still miss the mark and pierce those closest to us, our family and closest friends.

Some family wounds come to us intentionally. Whether through betrayal, mistrust, lying, even abuse, these wounds… oh, these wounds pierce so deeply into our hearts that we often need an entire lifetime to heal from them.

As an aside: If you’ve been intentionally wounded, then I want you to know right now at the very beginning of this message that we can help you begin a journey toward healing and restoration. That’s why we’re here. As we help others find and follow Jesus, we help one another find safety, healing, and restoration. Jesus is so much more than a pathway into Heaven. He is our safety, healing, and restoration, beginning now into eternity.

Some family piercings happen by accident through immature speech, unintentional crashes, forgetfulness.

Other times, we become wounded by piercings entirely beyond our control, such as miscarriages, death, illness, unforeseen financial circumstances, and so many others. These kinds of wounds feel like gut checks, don’t they? They knock the wind out of us and make us feel so discouraged and full of sorrowful. Sometimes these wounds don’t come with an explanation, or at least an easy one. These wounds need lots of tender loving care for healing.

While other wounds come by way of obeying God. Obedience is painful, isn’t it? Following Jesus isn’t just unicorns and applesauce, as my daughter would say. Jesus says ‘come and see’ and‘ come and die.’

Obedient discipleship begins and ends between these two comings. Obedience is costly and painful, and much like the piercings that happen to us beyond our control, sometime the woundings we receive from following Jesus don’t have clear answers either.

Obedience to Jesus and our family is such an emotional roller coaster with moments of excitement and reward and pain and sorrow.

Perhaps no other set of parents from the history of our faith experienced this more than Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus himself. They rode in the front row seats of this emotional roller coaster, even with the greatest arrow of all time being placed in their hands by our Warrior Heavenly Father.

Though we believe Jesus was without any brokenness and sin and was both fully God and fully man somehow within the mystery of God’s brilliance and power, his parents still were wounded by the simple obedience of raising their boy, Jesus, in a world that opposed him then and still opposes him to this very day.

As custom for faithful, devout Jewish parents like Mary and Joseph, they circumcised ***eight pound*** Baby Jesus eight days after his birth, and then, presented him before God in the Temple at 40 days old, as good, obedient Jewish parents would do.

There, at the Temple, an older priest named Simeon presided over their presentation. Here, the Gospel writer Luke recorded in chapter 2 that under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Simeon recognized Jesus as the long anticipated Messiah. In response, he pronounced this blessing over Jesus, saying:

I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people.

Keyword: all people! Not just for the Jewish people, or for the good people, or for the people who have their lives well put together. But for all people!

He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”

If I’m Joseph, then I’m thinking, “Yeah, that’s right. Keep it coming, Simeon! Tell me more about how great my boy is!”

Luke records: Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him.

These same parents who saw and heard angels speak to them about their son! You gotta love the humanity of this moment and wonder if their heads were just spinning during their entire pregnancy, thinking, “Are we really becoming the parents of the Messiah?”

I think, too, many parents feel that kind of wonder and amazement over their children. The slate typically starts clean with wonder and hope, until the truth about all families come to bear with what Simeon tells Mary next in verse 34, saying:

Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

Notice the turn from Simeon’s blessing to truth-telling. Obedience to Jesus isn’t just unicorns and applesauce, man. It’s life and death!

More than two millennia after this pronouncement, anyone with eyes wide open can see how some fall because of their own wayward decisions and opposition against Jesus, while others rise because of their acceptance and trust of Jesus’ grace and mercy.

Simeon’s words still ring true to this very day around the world and in our city!

But Simeon wasn’t finished. No, no, he had one more thought just for Mary, saying: And a sword will pierce your very soul.”

Now, if I’m Joseph, then I’m bewildered. I went from ecstatic to bewildered, maybe even defensive for my wife.

A sword will pierce your very soul?! That probably wasn't quite what Mary expected to hear.

In a matter of phrases, Simeon's soaring blessings of hope and salvation for the whole world through Jesus, then, radically shifted gears into the truthful reality of what Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection would represent, and the cost for every follower, including most of all, Jesus’ family. Simeon pronounced the shadow side of Jesus’ life marked by suffering and woundedness.

How do you imagine Mary and Joseph received Simeon’s announcement? These two young peasant parents holding before them the Savior of the world, just 40 days old, which nearly ended their marriage, crushed Mary’s reputation, and certainly brought much anxiety and fear to their lives, now hear Simeon say these words to Mary: ‘a sword will pierce your very soul.”

This underlines two aspects about Jesus’ life from his birth through the very end of his life:

● First, When grace and truth confront the 'deepest thoughts of many hearts,’ as Simeon said, along with the evils and powers of our world, then pain results. Pain results, but not necessarily in a harmful way. Like an antiseptic, such as hydrogen peroxide, when you apply the antiseptic of Jesus’ salvation onto our sinful lives, then the process may feel initially painful at first, but the pain is an indicator that Holy Spirit grace and truth is rooting out the junk from our lives. It’s painful letting grace and truth heal our wounds, but it’s good and necessary.

● Second, for Simeon to say such a profound and alarming statement to Mary, which proved true throughout Mary’s life, should indicate how much more the not-so-perfect among us will pierce the hearts of those closest to us.

For instance, when Jesus was 12 years old, Luke recorded in chapter 2 when Mary lost Jesus for three days only to find him listening to the Jewish leaders debate and teach about the law. After she confronted her son, Jesus responded by gently chiding his mother, saying that he must be in his father’s house. Agh (grab chest) Was this the sword, Mary wondered?

Then later, John recorded how in chapter 4 after Jesus announced his public ministry, the leaders of the synagogue mobbed him and forced him to the edge of his hometown cliff with every intention of pushing him off, but he slipped away before they could do so. Agh (grab chest) Was this the sword, Mary wondered?

Or later in chapter 7, John recorded another conversation between Jesus and his brothers. After escaping another death plot in Judea, his unbelieving brothers tell him that if he really is who he says he is, then he should go back there to Judea, face down death, and continue performing miracles where his followers would appreciate him. For even his brothers didn’t mind if he lived or died. Agh (grab chest) Was this the sword, Mary wondered?

Or from the Gospel writer Matthew, who recorded in chapter 27, when Mary watched from a distance her son die on a Roman criminal cross, beaten, naked and ridiculed. Agh (grab chest) Was this the sword, Mary wondered?

Was this the cost of obedience?

I suppose if any good news can be found by Simeon’s pronouncement over Mary, it is that all families endure piercings of some kind.

We’re all wounded. And yet, from Jesus’ woundedness, from his piercings, from his scarred hands and beaten body came our salvation and forgiveness.

In fact, it was his wounds that convinced Thomas to believe. It was his wounds, according to Luke in chapter 24, that convinced the group of people with him that, indeed, he was alive. His wounds proved to those who saw him that he wasn’t a ghost.

His wounds! God redeemed Jesus' wounded pain from the cross and used it for his glory and our salvation!

Perhaps our wounds, too, can prove that God redeems pain, for it is precisely from the wounded place, the hurting place in your life, the piercings, whether they be physical or emotional, it is precisely there from that place that God desires to heal.

If you go to see the doctor for a cut on your hand, does the doctor stitch your good hand? Of course not, the doctor heals the wound.

Jesus desires to do the very same thing with each and every single one of us, our families, our parents, our siblings, our extended loved ones and friends. God desires to heal you. God desires to heal your enemies. God desires to heal all of his children, every single one of his princes and princesses, into a restored life with God and with one another.

In his second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul began his letter, he started his letter, by applying healing words of comfort to a group of people who desperately needed to hear some bit of good news. Give close attention to how Paul describes God in this passage, beginning in chapter 1, verse 3:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles

The Apostle Paul described God as our merciful Father. Underneath our English translation for “Father" is a Greek word called “Abba.” For some of you, this may be a familiar word. For others of you, this may be your first time hearing it. The word, “Abba,” literally translates from the Aramaic language into English as “Daddy.”

God is your merciful daddy and the source of all your comfort.

If I may be so honest with you, full transparency, the word ‘daddy’ is a loaded one for me, and I think also for many of us. As one of the 42% of kids in the US who grew up in a home without a father present, the word ‘daddy’ raised more feelings of sadness and anger within me than feelings of comfort and hope.

This may be true for you, as well.

I still carry some of this with me. I must be honest. I think I always will, but in January 2014, I experienced God in a radically new and profound way after I became a ‘Daddy’ for the first time.

One afternoon, I was holding my newborn daughter, who was about a month old at the time, trying to comfort her from crying, but to no avail. I tried bouncing her. I tried swaying her. I tried flipping her in the air, not really, but nothing worked… until I started singing to her.

I whispered a song into her ear, and then I held her close and looked into her eyes. Still with tears in hers, she calmed down, looked into my eyes and watched me as I sang to her.

In that moment, as if the Holy Spirit whispered to me, I realized for the first time, that my Heavenly Father wants me to know him in the same way that Hannah knows me, as a ‘Daddy,’ as ‘Abba.’

Your Heavenly Father wants you to know him as ‘Daddy,’ singing joyful songs over you during times of trouble. He even made this known to you in his word, saying:

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”' Zephaniah 3:17

I think God intentionally wants us to know him as a good and merciful and gracious and forgiving and loving daddy because the fundamental brokenness of our lives find its origin right there within our families. Always. Even among the best families, the roots of our brokenness tend to begin there.

The Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, is our good, good father.

He comforts us in all our troubles for a purpose...

...so that we can comfort others.

When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

From our woundedness, God applies the healing balm, and in the same manner as our Heavenly Father proved his resurrected Son by his wounds, he then says to us, show your healed wounds, your scars, your places of healing, for that will be where others find theirs. Your healed and wounded scars will be the place where others discover where their Heavenly ‘Daddy’ is waiting for them.

The Apostle Paul continued, saying:

For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.

This describes why we endure pain with obedience. Only through obedience, only through sufferings, only through inexplicable woundedness do we experience our Heavenly ‘Daddy’ up close and personal with us, comforting us, drawing us closer with loving arms.

This is the character of God. This has been his way from the very beginning.

Even the Psalmist wrote from long ago:

The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalms 34:17-18

This is God’s promise to you. Let me encourage you now to claim this every time you feel broken hearted and distant from God and your closest people...

…Because bad decisions get made when you distance yourself from God and others because of your piercings and woundedness.

God will hear you. God will rescue you.

You know that old saying, “Hurt people, hurt people?” That’s a true statement.

But equally, I also believe that healing people can bring about healing for others.

The prophet Isaiah wrote of Jesus, "by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5

What if you saw your place of pain as a conduit for God’s healing comfort to someone else?

Just imagine.

Now, imagine this community here tonight at the 5pm of comforted men and women who decided not to keep this comfort of God solely for their own benefit, but decided to let God transform their comfort to comfort others in their place of pain?

Just imagine!

Now, imagine this space being one of the safest spaces in the entire city where other men and women just like you could discover the comfort of their waiting heavenly “Daddy” to draw close to their broken hearts and rescue them from their broken suffering?

Just imagine!

Now imagine your discomfort being a place where others find a safe space to bring their discomfort.

Just imagine!

Now, imagine if everyone in this room stayed in the hurt. Who decides when the pain stops? You or the perpetrator of the pain? You decide! What would it look like for you to dare to heal? Now, I’m not inviting you to put yourself in physical danger, but I am inviting you to revisit the wound, revisit the wound, and invite God’s comfort to apply the healing balm of the Holy Spirit on your pain?

Just imagine!

Now imagine Jesus meeting you at your wounds and making them something greater.

Just imagine!

I want you to do more than just imagine this. I want you to do something about it.

Is there a conversation that needs to happen at home with your parent, your child, a sibling, or a friend? Do you need to extend forgiveness? Do you need to seek forgiveness? It might not turn out the way you think? But on the other hand, it could…

A few years back, I came to a moment with my life and faith when I decided that I was done imagining forgiveness with my father. I needed to make it happen. Before I left California for Miami, I visited with him face-to-face, and I said these words that I wasn’t sure that I could ever say to him: “I forgive you.”

He didn’t have much to say back to me, and quite honestly, he avoided many of my questions. It wasn’t a Hallmark ending, and much of it felt awkward.

But what I came to realize was I didn’t need what I thought needed from him. I thought I needed explanations and a reconciled relationship. Instead, what I realized was I needed to forgive him, and I needed to him to know that I didn’t hold his actions against him. He was off my hook, and he has my mercy and grace because that’s exactly what Jesus gave to me on the cross. Now, whatever he chose to do with that is his decision. I would have loved reconciliation. But instead, what I got was freedom, and I can only hope the same for him. And now I get the privilege of helping others find that same freedom and comfort because I have been comforted.

And this same freedom and comfort can be yours, too. It doesn’t have to be something that you just imagine. It can be yours to own!

I want you to handwrite this verse right now and memorize it. I know you can do it. You can memorize entire rap songs, I know you can memorize this simple passage that can become one of THE initial catalysts for your healing. I am going to give you a moment to write this:

God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:4

Over the next few days, I want you to ask God this question, and write this down in your own handwriting:

Who needs to experience the comfort of our Heavenly ‘Daddy’ through me?

I’ll give you a moment to write this down.

Someone needs you. Your family needs you. God desires to comfort and heal your family and friends through you. But also, God desires to comfort you. And if tonight, you need to start there and let God meet you in your wounded place to redeem your pain and transform it into something greater, then let not another moment go by where you feel brokenhearted and pierced.

Healing begins now. Comfort begins now.

To our Heavenly Daddy…

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! - Psalm 127:3-5 NIV [Children] are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. Jesus says ‘come and see’ and ‘come and die.’ I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. Luke 2:30-31 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” Luke 2:32 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. Luke 2:33 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. Luke 2:34-35 And a sword will pierce your very soul.” Luke 2:35 ‘a sword will pierce your very soul.’ All families endure piercings of some kind. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles... 2 Corinthians 1:3 For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”' Zephaniah 3:17 ...So that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:5 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalms 34:17-18 By his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5 God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:4 Who needs to experience the comfort of our Heavenly ‘Daddy’ through me?

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