Focus:
God's ability to reveal Himself
Function:
To help people see that God is not shut up, closed and vacant from
humanity.
Form:
Storytelling
Intro:
Have you ever had times of great doubt?
I suppose one of the
hardest things to do as a pastor is to officiate a funeral for a
young person or a child that died accidentally.
There was a young man
in High School with my two eldest children.
He was expelled for
writing something critical of the administration, but it was well
written.
I chalked it up to the
angst that happens at that age and at my daughter's request, I took
another minister from my church to speak on his behalf.
He was reinstated in
school.
Sadly, a few weeks
later he ran a stop sign and his young life was snuffed out.
The family had no
church background, but because of our speaking up on behalf of the
child, they asked me to do the funeral.
The father was totally
distraught.
He said: “I don't
want anything preachy. Can you do it without mentioning God?”
I don't know why he had
so much doubt about the faith, but I assured him that the gospel is
good news, God wanted to help him heal and that I would share the
good news and that I would not judge his son.
You see, like the
phrase “no atheists in foxholes,” at this moment in peoples lives
the questions come up pretty clear: Where is God in human suffering?
Why did God let this happen? Why did God take my son from us? Is God
fair? How can I believe in a God like this?
At many times, when
things go well, people praise themselves and when things go bad, they
blame God.
Just like an ancient
court room, God is oftentimes placed in the box where the jury gets
to judge Him.
He must perform well
And at a funeral like
this, the preacher is cast in this awkward light: “Who speaks
for God?”
And theologians out
there will quickly answer that God needs no one to defend Him.
But at that funeral,
speaking for God, it is my job to help people make sense out of what
appears to be a senseless tragedy.
For preachers, the good
news is this: “God loves people, God is involved in the affairs of
humanity and God comforts anyone, no matter who they are.”
I think that is why I
like doing funerals so much. God always acts to comfort people and I
get to be a part of that.
Look again at the text.
It, in many ways, answers this man's questions.
Essentially Peter says
this: “Our faith isn't just a clever set of principles coupled with
superstitious notions in order to make it more powerful. No. My
faith...” Peter says “...is based on two things. First, I have
seen the glory of God for myself. And seeing God's glory for myself
confirms to me all that I have read in scripture about God. These
words aren't just ancient stories, but they report some of the times
that God has intervened in literal, supernatural and dramatic ways.”
You see, God wants to
reach humanity more than some of us want to find Him.
And the funeral went
well.
A month or two later,
the father came into my office.
He was a wreck.
He said to me: “Pastor
Phil, I am not a religious man. I do not have time, or patience for
church. But, all my life I have only ever had one prayer and that is
this: `God, if you are there, keep my kids safe.' Why, then, did God
not answer the only prayer I have ever made?”
What would you say to
this man? (pause)
I am pretty sure that
my answer amounted to nothing more than blubbering.
And then, in that room,
with that man, the Holy Spirit started speaking to my heart.
My first temptation was
to chide him for not being faithful before, or to chide him for
having only selfish prayers. I said nothing like that.
That would have been
the devil, the accuser speaking through me.
And thank God, that
didn't happen. Instead, my heart was overwhelmed with love for this
man.
God's Holy Spirit fills
us and changes our perspective.
All I could say to him
was this: “This really stinks, and God knows it....
“...God is here and I
can't speak for why God, but I can assure you that God loves, loves
your son, and He would never take his life just to get your
attention. I know that God loves you."
This passage answers
the big question: “Where is God in human suffering?”
This passage
authenticates God's Word as divine and not just clever literature.
The story of our own
conversion is powerful.
Because, just like
Peter who wrote these words, we too, are witnesses of His glory.
We too are witnesses of
God's love.
Our testimony, or story
is important because it is real.
When I faced the father
of that dead child in my office that day, I too, was overwhelmed, not
only with God's love for the man, but with God's love for me.
My story is powerful.
I was saved at 4.
At 12, I was baptized
and it seemed to me like the room was filled with angels. I remember
testifying “I feel like a ton of happiness has come upon me.”
However, at 17, I
questioned the faith.
The Church, on the
South Side of FT Wayne would go to the projects to help those, as
they said: “poor black folks.”
But when the
neighborhood started to integrate, and the church voted to move away
because they said that blacks and whites cannot worship together, I
lost interest in Christianity like that.
I got involved in drugs
and then in the occult.
But my mom was a prayer
warrior. In desperation, she prayed, “Lord, if you have to hit him
on the head to save him, do it!”
And my dad, a pastor,
was the kindest man I ever met. His Christianity was never hellfire
and brimstone. Nope. He preached the joy of serving Jesus. God's love
for people flowed out of him. The Holy Spirit was powerful in him.
I came home one night,
very late, and in my hand was a Satanic Bible.
My dad came tearing
down the stairs with fear in his eyes: “What do you have in your
hand?
Apparently the spirit
in that book was a mortal enemy to the Holy Spirit of God inside my
dad, otherwise he could have never known.
Dad taught me to work
hard. Consequently, at 18, I was promoted to assistant manager at the
Azar's Big Boy Restaurant on West Jefferson next to Sweeney Park.
On my forth night,
about 1:00 AM, January 7, 1976, there was a knock at the back door.
The training manager
had just left.
I cracked the door to
see who it was.
The door was ripped out
of my hand and a wooden club crashed into my skull.
I tried to catch the
club on the next blow and the bones in this left hand were shattered.
I have a scar to remind
me of the night Jesus called me back home to Him.
They knocked me down,
first to my knees, and then unconscious.
They grabbed me and put
me in the walk-in cooler.
Picking me up, I woke
up.
I stood up and
unplugged the freezing unit and then laid back down in the same
position I was in, feigning unconsciousness.
No sooner did I lay
back down than the door was opened.
Laying there, I heard
the two young men argue over their method for killing me.
I was faced with a
choice.
I knew I was lost. At
the time, I was pretty sure that if I died, I would face eternity
without the love of Christ.
I had a deacon in one
church who ended all of his devotions with this one statement: “The
whole story of the Bible these four words: God wants everyone back.”
For God so loved the
word that He gave....
And God is not done
giving.
You know how they say
time slows down... It does. I heard two sentences.
The first one: “We
have to stab him and make sure he is dead, he can identify me...”
The moments in between
stretched into what felt like eternity.
I laid there, facing
eternity and I repented.
I remember the prayer,
it was simple. “Lord Jesus, I am sorry for my sins, please forgive
me. Save me.”
And then something
happened. I can't adequately describe it because it was miraculous. I
lay there, my head on my left cheek and right here (point to right
cheek, below my right ear)
below my right here I felt something wonderful enter my body.
This
incredible peace flowed over me and I thought I heard a voice say to
me: “you will be okay.”
And then the next
sentence came from the other kid: “no, the club will do the trick.”
I remember counting 9
blows before I was knocked out, they beat me so hard that the doctors
had to sew the skin back onto my head.
Did you ever wander
what goes through a person's mind when they are dying? I experienced
it that night.
But I survived, by the
grace of God.
I don't like to be
surprised. But for the most part, the only thing that clearly burns
in my mind is that feeling of complete love and safety being held in
the arms of God.
It is quite a story,
and that is just a small part of it.
Peter tells his story
in this passage.
He tells us what He saw
God do.
This is our witness.
This is our testimony. The facts of our story cannot be argued with.
The facts of our story
hold out hope for others.
Remember the father of
that young man?
In my office that day,
when God reminded me of God's great love for people, God reached into
the heart of that father and comforted him as well.
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