How's That Working Out For You?

Text: Mark 4:35-41
Focus: Trusting God
Function: To help people rely on God instead of themselves.
Form: Story Telling

Intro:

In this story, the great power of the Lord is evident as Jesus calms a storm.

Storms in life are inevitable.

The worse thing about the storm is that we have no control. Nature works beyond our ability to stop it.

(SHOW) Life is out of control but… …Jesus is in Control!

In this story, it was obvious to the apostles that their lives were in peril.
When our lives are in peril, and we can see the danger, we oftentimes think about how much we need the Lord.

But we often forget that we need Him all the time.

We are not aware of how much he cares for us.
I spent my week of vacation with my son and his wife. They just bought their first home, and decided to get a puppy the same week.

They got a tenacious German-shepherd pup.

Dogs have this instinct to bring down prey much larger than them by biting the prey’s Achilles tendon, crippling it and then going for the throat.

This puppy, acting on instinct, was always under our feet trying to bring us down. I can’t tell you how funny that was, but also, the dog, in its naiveté got stepped on several times.

One time, Kathy said, it cried quite a while after Kathy stepped on it.

Sooner or later, it is going to learn.

And since it was too small to be kept in the fence, they tied it up in the backyard. They have a fish pond, with rocks around it. The leash gets tangled in the rocks and the dog gets stuck in the water and in its innocence, it could easily drown.

It needs constant attention.

It needed its master to protect it from harm and most the time, it didn’t even know when it was in trouble.

We have this same relationship with God.

That is why Jesus, in the Lord ’s Prayer said: deliver us from the evil one.
(SHOW) We need Jesus all the time, not just during the times of trouble.

How do we act toward Him in times of trouble?

I think it is very important in our relationship with God to be honest with Him.

When we are happy and at peace, we praise and worship Him.

What happens when we are upset, or bothered about the way the direction of our life is going?

And why do we have problems?

Most often, the problems are problems we have created for ourselves, and it isn’t fair to God to blame Him.

But sometimes, on top of the problems we created for ourselves, circumstances just go all the way wrong and you are thinking, Lord just give me a break!

In this story, the problem the disciples were facing had nothing to do with something they did themselves.

God wanted to teach them He could be trusted. And to do that, He allowed them to be at great risk.

As I said, those who are willing to serve Him don’t do so from the comfort of their living rooms giving money to others to do the work. Serving God can involve genuine risk.

And when they were in trouble, they got upset with God.

I have found this in prayer, it is important to be honest with God about what we are feeling. Some people are afraid to do that because they think it might be irreverent. Just as a child addresses a parent, it should be respectful, but God knows better how we are feeling and knows if we are lying to either Him or ourselves.

So the disciples are angry with the Lord for sleeping in the midst of this storm.

Now think about it, they should have taken their clue about their safety from the way that Jesus wasn’t concerned about the storm.

But instead, they allowed fear to dominate their thinking.

Healthy fear is important in order to protect us from real danger. I wish that puppy feared getting stepped on more than its instinct to bite my ankle. It had sharp teeth!

But this fear is the kind of fear that denies the possibility of faith and what God can do.

So, what did the disciples do when the boat was sinking?

What we all would have done, they started bailing out the boat.

And here they are, more and more water is pouring into the boat and they keep bailing harder and harder.

Let me break down the nature of a crisis. The problem causes a certain reaction. Although it doesn’t solve the problem, they keep trying harder at what doesn’t work.

I counseled one couple several years ago, she smoked and he drank. They both said, “as long as the other either drinks or smokes, I am going to keep up my behavior.”

So, in order to “fix” their marriage, he was destroying his liver, she was destroying her lungs.

I wanted to ask them: “How’s that working out for you?”

Back to the disciples: One could commend them for doing something.

But what they did wasn’t the right thing.

Isn’t that the way we live our own lives?

(SHOW) We keep facing the same problem, time and time again and we keep reacting the same way, even though it doesn’t work.

They needed to change their action. At this time, it meant they needed to wake up the Lord and ask Him for help.

They needed to place their lives into the care and protection of God.

(SHOW) If you keep having the same problem, and your solution doesn’t work, it is time to consider a different response… …It is time to call on the Lord for help!

So here they are bailing out the boat, and they are upset that Jesus isn’t bailing with them.
Imagine their thinking: “Okay, we got 12 people bailing and that isn’t working, maybe if we add a 13th person it’ll be enough!”

It didn’t occur to them that maybe Jesus had a better plan.

(SHOW) Jesus has a better plan.

In the boat, Jesus was asleep, because no matter how it looked, He was in control

(SHOW) No matter how it looks, Jesus is in control.

Go back to Abraham for a minute.

God told him that he would have descendants as numerous as the sands on the seashore.

And yet, his wife was barren.
So, he did his own thing, took on a second wife because he figured God needed help with God’s promises.

He invested his hope and future in that boy and when that boy was 12 years old, God told him that another child was coming, through his wife Sarah.
Sarah was 89 years old, had been through the change and it would take a miracle for him to get her pregnant.

But God, when we are in line with His plans, is the God of miracles.

Sure enough, Isaac was born.

13 years after that, God told him to sacrifice Isaac on the altar.

By this time, Abraham had finally learned the lesson of faith that nothing is impossible for God.

Even if Isaac was dead, he knew God could give him grandchildren through Isaac.

Death is a pretty absolute thing, but his hope was in the genuine and real power of God.

Abraham rested in God, not in the circumstances.

(SHOW) Rest in God, not the circumstances.

God may be calling us to do something different.
A pastor friend of mine was having marriage difficulties.

He went to a marriage retreat where the speaker told them, if what you are doing isn’t working, then try doing something different.

For the Seinfeld fans, it was kind of like “opposite George.”

There was a particular event that recurred a few times in their marriage that was pretty drastic. It was big enough to end most marriages.

And this friend of mine decided to do something different. When this event occurred, instead of reacting himself in anger, he choose to embrace her and give her unconditional love.

And it worked! She melted, repented and now they are have a strong marriage with a story to tell about the power of unconditional love.
Now, it doesn’t’ always work because God doesn’t’ violate the free will of anyone.

So why mention it? The Pastor’s choice to be obedient to Christ no matter what she did opened the door for the work of the Holy Spirit in her and she choose to obey God.

He told us this: “as long has he kept reacting the same way, he was getting nowhere.”

The disciples kept bailing the boat and wanted Jesus to bail with them instead of looking for another solution.

(SHOW) If you are doing something in your own strength and it isn’t working out for you, will doing it harder make it work out?

It is the same in the Church as it is in life.

Did you hear about the 3 bear hunters?
• They were flown into a remote lake in Alaska for a week of hunting.
• They each bagged a bear.
• The pilot returned to take them out and they wanted to take their bears with them.
• There wasn’t room, or lift enough on the plane but they convinced the pilot to let them tie the bears to the wings.
• They told the pilot they did it the year before by going to a certain spot on the lake the provided the longest stretch of water for the plane to build up speed.
• And they justified it by telling him that the year before there were 4 of them instead of 3.
• They were traveling across the lake and got a little lift, just enough to clear the trees on the edge of the lake, but after 200 yards, they hit some taller trees and crashed into the woods.
• The pilot was furious and started yelling at them.
• And they said, “well, we got 100 yards farther than last year.”

You want to ask those guys, “How’s that working out for you?”

Why keep doing what doesn’t work?

I know that changing the way we do things is unsettling. The older I get, the more I hate change. I hate having things out of control. My reaction more often is: “I like it just the way it was, thank you.”

But the Lord was showing the disciples a new way, and He was inviting them to walk with Him in new ways.

(SHOW) God is always making things new for us… … and He is always protecting us.

These battles we face are spiritual, not physical.

I don’t know what it means exactly that when Jesus did wake up, He rebuked the winds and seas.

It is the same word used when He talked of rebuking Satan Himself.

Brothers and sisters, we are not without an enemy to our souls.

Satan will do everything he can to bring us down and destroy us.

We need to resist him just as Jesus did.

He keeps us in bondage to bitterness, resentment, revengefulness, gossip, unforgiveness and shame.

What would happen if we let those things go?

What would happen, if instead of reacting with bitterness, pettiness, gossip and unforgiveness we choose to love and forgive?

Those things don’t work, but sometimes we keep doing it harder and harder, don’t we?

Now I want to end with a story about how it is a spiritual battle and how if we choose to be obedient to Christ, regardless of the other person, we open the door for God to move on our behalf.

I got permission from one of my former deacons to tell you this story.

He was raised as a plain-dressed Mennonite. They weren’t horse and buggy, but they were black-bumper Mennonites.

He married a Methodist. When he married her, his own brother condemned him for marrying outside the faith. His brother called him a sinner for doing that.

He told me he quit loving his brother and carried terrible bitterness toward him for over 12 years.

Then, we had a ceremony at the church, where we asked people to write the name of someone they were carrying unforgiveness for on a slip of paper and nail it to the cross as a symbol of giving it up.

He forgave his brother and wouldn’t you know it? Two weeks later, after 12 years his brother came to him and asked for his forgiveness.

He knew that the Holy Spirit worked on his behalf after he forgave his brother.

(SHOW) When we choose to do things God’s way, we open up the possibility for a miracle to happen.

If we refuse to do it God’s way, then we are stuck bailing out the boat ourselves.

And it is spiritual warfare we are fighting. Satan wants you bound in unforgiveness, pettiness, bitterness and revenge.

Satan wants you bound by fear, or bound by tradition so much that you refuse to trust God to build a new future for you.

And if you feel bound that way, it is time to let it go and let God quiet the storm. It is time to surrender control back to Him.

CONCL:

Will you come to Jesus to be free?

Daddy, Fix it!

Text: Romans 8:12-17
Focus: Overcoming Sin
Function: The Holy Spirit gives us real power to be free from sin.
Form: expository

Intro:

It is great when your children are young and dad is their hero. I had a dad who could fix anything. He used to say, “it was designed and engineered by men, and I am a man, so I guess that means I can fix it.”

Of course, the wise man also realizes the limits of his potential, tools and experience and knows when to read the directions or hire a professional.

I remember every time one of the kids’ toys would break, they would bring it to me for daddy to fix.

My son was playing with this large blow-up balloon that was fairly heavy for a balloon, but was sold as a ball. But it proved to be as fragile as a balloon. As it wore out, it burst. He brought the pieces to me to fix. And I learned that there are some things that only God can fix.
The neat thing about growing up is when your children are more adept, agile and better at fixing things than you are.

But I got to tell you, the joy in being able to fix the toy was great. It was great to see the light come back on in the children’s eyes when you saved the day.

It was great when my dad did that for me, and it was great when I could do it for my children.

Daddy, fix it. It was a common cry.

And, it is the cry of this scripture.

He talks about living either led by the Spirit of God, where God is in control, or being led by our own desires and will.

(SHOW) Living by the flesh is living in such a way that we have to fight sin all by ourselves…
…The Holy Spirit is at work in us to set us free.

Sometimes it is hard to be free, because we have to surrender.

Listen, sin is SIN. It destroys both us, our relationships with others and more importantly, our relationship with God.

The world will tell you that we are merely animals, with an animal nature that cannot be controlled and we are victims of it, caught up and controlled by our passions.

The world will tell us that we are slaves to our own lusts.

But we aren’t. Look at the first part of our text: (SHOW) So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh

We are debtors to God who purchased our lives with His own blood.

And living for our own desires is death. Look again: (SHOW) — for if you live according to the flesh, you will die;

That thinking that we have to follow our temptations to do the wrong thing is death to us. We are not enslaved by sin anymore.

There is freedom in Christ: (SHOW) …but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live

We are not under any obligation to have to obey our sinful desires

As a matter of fact, it is impossible for us to even manage them.

We can’t do it.

Think of the symbolization when we are baptized.

(SHOW) Baptism symbolizes the overcoming power of God.

When we go under the water, we symbolize burial. We symbolize a death to living merely for ourselves.

But no minister of God ever drowns a victim. Immediately, they bring that person back out of the water.

The coming out of the water symbolizes our resurrection. It symbolizes a new, more powerful, more authentic life. It symbolizes a life lived as a son or daughter of God with a whole new purpose for being.

And I think about the faith in that.

(SHOW a crucifix and a cross without an icon of Jesus on it)

This is my “dress cross” for Sunday morning. I have an everyday cross. It is a cross, but the silhouette of where Jesus hung on the cross is there. I don’t know if the artist decided it was a modern form of a crucifix. A crucifix is a cross with an image of Jesus still on the cross.

Many believers refuse to wear one because Jesus is no longer on the cross.

He rose from the dead.

It could be a modern art crucifix, or it could symbolize that He was there, which is a very important concept in our faith. And it also symbolizes that He is no longer there.

I like crucifixes because they remind me of the terrible price Jesus paid. When we have bread and cup communion, we are also remembering the crucifixion.

But the one, the crucifixion is meaningless without the resurrection.

If Jesus merely died for our sins, and didn’t rise from the dead, then the only real meaning of our faith is that we are shameful people whom God really must hate.
If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, we are still stuck in shame.

And (SHOW) Shame is not from God.

Shame is that sense of worthlessness. I am not talking about humility, but hopelessness.

Shame is demonic –straight from the pit of hell because it crushes the spirit and keeps us from hope.

God is not the author of shame.

I mentioned on Easter about my minister friend who refuses to believe that Jesus died for him because it wouldn’t be fair that one man should die on behalf of another.

Never mind the fact that you are good people and would probably give your life to save someone else.

My friend would be correct if Jesus was just a man. He would be correct of Jesus wasn’t God. He would be correct of Jesus hadn’t raised Himself from the dead.

If Jesus was merely a man, then the noble thing for us to do would be to take our own punishment.
But He wasn’t just a man.

(SHOW) The fact is, a miracle happened when Jesus rose from the dead.

So, here is the thing. The man side of Jesus, the GOD/MAN died for us. We have faith in that. In one sense, we believe in noble character and could picture ourselves risking our lives to save another. We could picture ourselves pushing a child out of the path of an oncoming bus. So, we can picture Jesus’ self-sacrifice.

That part is easyto understand. But here is the mystery if this scripture, the second part is hard for us to understand:

When He rose from the Dead, the Holy Spirit delivered Him from death. God did a miracle.

When I studied theology I learned that because of Jesus death for me, I shouldn’t sin because He did so much to set me free. Because He died to overcome sin, I shouldn’t treat His sacrifice lightly by continuing to sin and making a mockery. I learned that every time I sinned, it was just like I was driving extra nails into His hands and feet.

We don't stop sinning to save ourselves -Jesus already did that. Repentance is turning our lives over to God.

I believe in that. But I always had this terrible fear that the second part of my faith wasn’t working.

He died to forgive us, He rose to set us free from sin.

If He rose to set us free from sin, and I believe in it, just as I believe He died to forgive us. Then why do I still sin?

IS my faith only half of what it should be?

But consider this, my friends. Everyone of us could die for our own sins. In this state, if one commits a capital crime and with malice and deliberate planning murders another, that person could very well get the death penalty.

But listen, not one of us can raise ourselves from the dead.

It is impossible. You can’t do it. God did the impossible. And it is the same with deliverance from sinful behavior.

That is thy mystery of this passage: Only God could raise Himself from the dead, only God can deliver us from sin.

It takes a miracle to be free.

If it were possible to put to death the deeds of the flesh by our own will, then Jesus would not have died for us.

God did what we can’t do.
If you are still trying to overcome sin by your own effort, you will fail. As a matter of fact, you will die trying.

IF we are trying to do it ourselves, we will die.

We do it in faith, in fellowship with God, drawn into His very presence by the Holy Spirit, being held in His arms like a child comforted by Dad or mom, then we are promised a victorious Christian life.

(SHOW) Putting to death the misdeeds of the body is achieved by being “led by the Spirit.”

WE CAN’T DO THIS OURSELVES.
Here is where Christian ministry without faith in, or understanding of, the work of the Holy Spirit fails.
For example, we read the scripture (SHOW) Ephesians 5:18a: “Do not be drunk with wine, for this is excess…”

And we end it there. And, we decide who is and who isn’t a good Christian based on whether or not they drink wine at all, when the scripture clearly points to the sin of excess, and excess in anything is implied, not just the abuse of alcohol. And, (SHOW) We leave out the most important part of the scripture, (Ephesians 5:18b) …but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

You understand that merely trying to stop something by our own effort leads to failure.

But living in relationship with God brings spiritual growth and success.

Notice that there are things that are assumed in this passage:

First: (SHOW) Without the Spirit of Christ in us, sin will control us.
Chapter 7, sin, without the Spirit of Christ in us will control us. We become slaves of our own desires.

Second: (SHOW) The war over sin has been won.
There is NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE IN CHRIST JESUS, FOR THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS HAS SET US FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.

Third: Even though the war is over, (SHOW) the battles are still being fought.
• The ones who give into the struggle will suffer death.
• He is talking of either spiritual or physical death.
• We are under obligation to the law of love, not the law of sin and condemnation.
• We are under the law, not the law of sin and condemnation, but the law of love.
Fourth: (SHOW) The Holy Spirit is our motivating force.
• It motivates us toward Love for God and others.
• It motivates away from sin.
• We are no longer motivated only to sin.
• Yet we still sin, we choose not to forgive, we choose to live in excess, we choose to judge, we choose to gossip and listen to gossip. Too often we choose self over others or God.
• So where is the victory?
• The victory is won when we rest in grace.
• When we consider ourselves dead to sin.

Fifth: The (SHOW) victory comes in relationship with God.
• The Holy Spirit calls us sons and daughters of God.
• It is in relationship with this power that is supernatural and beyond ours that we have victory.

Sixth and most importantly: (SHOW) The Spirit of God puts to death the misdeeds of the body.
• Do you want to be a more spiritual person?
• Then don’t fight sin by your effort.
• Get involved in your Christian duty to be a light and a blessing to the world.
• When God’s Spirit, which is likened to a river of living water flows through you, the problem with temptation and sin fades because you are connected with the Father.

When this scripture says if you are living in the flesh you will die, it includes fighting against sin in our own effort.
If you fight against sin by your own effort, you will fail.

If you work FOR good in the power of the Holy Spirit, you will succeed.

Don’t be afraid of your failures. Learn from them. Next time, make up your mind to do well.

There is truth to the statement that idle minds/hands are the devils’ playground.

Except I put it in the positive, if we are doing good, and enjoying the closeness that brings us to God, we won’t have time or a desire to do wrong.

And it is important to realize that Daddy does fix the sin problem when we are being led by the Holy Spirit.