1-17-09 Freeing The Hope Within Us
This morning I would like to challenge every one of us to let go of a sanitized Christianity and get back to the powerful, raw, and ancient faith that chooses revolution over compromise, peril over safety, and spiritual passion over luke-warm and watered-down religion.
Sadly, many of us in the American church have come to value safety and comfort so much that we forfeit our calling. We tell ourselves that if we go to church, give our money, and belong to a life group, we’ve satisfied God’s requirements for us. After all, we’re good people. Busy people. Doing things kind of people. People who love our families and provide for them.
Even so, I believe they’re still burns within each of us the desire to live a significant life, to do extraordinary things, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Movie clip part one: 9:40 — 11:38
We, too, wonder if there’s more, don’t we? We wonder because we were not created to live out the Christian life in a cage – in a box! But that’s what we do. We put our lives and God in a box. We put the Christian faith in a box.
The Bible is full of people who didn’t seem to stay in the box:
Noah lived in the middle of a hot, dry land. He most likely had never seen a flood, yet he heeded God’s call to build an ark.
David was just a boy, yet he heeded God’s call and faced the giant Goliath.
Hosea was a godly man, yet he heeded God’s call to marry a prostitute.
Moses stood on the banks of the Red Sea, and, heeding God’s call, raised his staff and parting the Red Sea.
Ester, heeding God’s call, risked her life by confronting King Xerxes to save her people.
Peter heeded Jesus call and walked on water.
Ordinary people don’t do things like this. Or do they?
Is your faith sanitized, sterile, and safe or is it raw, powerful, and revolutionary. Are you listening to the Spirit of God or the spirit of this world?
Maybe we should start by defining “ordinary.” What does it mean to be ordinary, anyway? In our culture we are considered ordinary or normal when we meet the expectations of our families, churches, employers, and friends, but is this the definition of normalcy for a Christ follower? Instead of taking all our cues from society, maybe we should delve into what the Bible says about what God can do through us, as followers of Jesus we may actually have to go against the cultural grain, if we are to be the people God has called us to be.
We are ordinary until God enters us, then we become extra ordinary.
Here’s one example from the Bible: David went against the grain. When he refused to wear Saul’s armor when he faced the giant Goliath. It wasn’t ordinary for a soldier to fight without armor, especially when he was fighting against overwhelming odds. It was not ordinary for a soldier to use a slingshot, as his sole means of defending himself, but using a slingshot was normal for David. Against the wisdom of the time this young boy knew that God was his sufficiency, not the armor or a sword.
David’s expectations of himself, of God, and of what God would do through him, were far from ordinary. They were extraordinary! Is God prompting you to redefine your expectations of ordinary? Is he challenging you to expand, and even explore your understanding of what God can do through you? What God can do through us?
When did you get domesticated?
Perhaps the biggest risk in life is not failing, but never trying at all. Do you really want to spend your whole life in the boat wondering what it’s like to walk on water? For the Christian, this would be like an eagle that spends his whole life in a nest, wondering what it’s like to fly. When you became a follower of Christ, you signed on for an extraordinary life. But that will never happen unless you get out of the boat. Or leave the nest and go for it. Christianity was never meant to be a spectator sport!
Movie clip part two: Madagascar - 57:54 – 1:00:00.
We, too, can experience the exhilaration of being all that God designed us to be.
Here is the story of an unlikely hero
Judges 6:1-6 (MSG)
Yet again the People of Israel went back to doing evil in God’s sight. God put them under the domination of Midian for seven years. Midian overpowered Israel. Because of Midian, the People of Israel made for themselves hideouts in the mountains-caves and forts. When Israel planted its crops, Midian and Amalek, the easterners, would invade them, camp in their fields, and destroy their crops all the way down to Gaza. They left nothing for them to live on, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. Bringing their cattle and tents, they came in and took over, like an invasion of locusts. And their camels-past counting! They marched in and devastated the country. The People of Israel, reduced to grinding poverty by Midian, cried out to God for help.
The Israelites had turned their backs on the Lord. Life was extremely hard in Israel during this period. The Israelites were harassed and oppressed and suffered great injustices at the hands of the Midianites, who had invaded their country. The Israelites were so outnumbered and dominated by the Midianites that they finally cried out to the Lord for help. And God heard their cry.
The People of Israel cried out to God because of Midian, God sent them a prophet with this message: “God, the God of Israel, says, I delivered you from Egypt, I freed you from a life of slavery; I rescued you from Egypt’s brutality and then from every oppressor; I pushed them out of your way and gave you their land. “And I said to you, ‘I am God, your God. Don’t for a minute be afraid of the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.’ But you didn’t listen to me.” Judges 6:6-10
Even though the Israelites had turned away from God, the Lord had not forgotten them.
One day the angel of God came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, whose son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, out of sight of the Midianites. The angel of God appeared to him and said, “God is with you, O mighty warrior!” Judges 6:11-12
So at this desperate point in the history of Israel, a man named Gideon received a surprise visit by a messenger of God. Like the rest of his clan, Gideon was terrified of the Midianites and had been hiding in fear. He was anyone but a mighty warrior. But God saw something in Gideon that Gideon did not yet see in himself. In the same way, I think God sees more in us than we see in ourselves.
Gideon replied, “With me, my master? If God is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracle-wonders our parents and grandparents told us about, telling us, ‘Didn’t God deliver us from Egypt?’ The fact is, God has nothing to do with us-he has turned us over to Midian.” Judges 6:13
Gideon asked a very natural and human question: why have you abandoned us in our time of need?
But God faced him directly: “Go in this strength that is yours. Save Israel from Midian. Haven’t I just sent you?” Judges 6:14
The Lord ignored Gideon’s complaint and told him he had what he needed to fulfill God’s command. Why are we surprised when God calls us to do something beyond our abilities? Have you noticed that God seems to call us to do whatever we can’t do, but what he can? He knows we are capable of great things, but only when they are done in his strength instead of our own.
Gideon said to him, “Me, my master? How and with what could I ever save Israel? Look at me. My clan’s the weakest in Manasseh and I’m the runt of the litter.” Judges 6:15
Gideon did exactly what many of us do when God knocks on our door. He offered excuses. He wasn’t the right guy for the job. His family was weak. He was weak. He was totally unqualified.
God said to him, “I’ll be with you. Believe me, you’ll defeat Midian as one man.” Judges 6:16
The key to everything is right here. The only thing we need to know is this: God will be with us. He was with David, Samson, Paul, and Peter, and he will be with us. When Jesus came to this earth. He was called Emmanuel, which means God with us. Jesus came down to reveal that God is with us.
To do what God has called you to do, you only need to know that he is sending you and that he will be with you. With this combination there is nothing you can’t do. Paul said it better than anyone when he said:
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4: 13
Deep down inside, all of us desire to do extraordinary things, to live lives that matter. Sometimes we need help from the outside to see that God has put more in us than we realize. We need to be challenged to move beyond negative self-perceptions and past failures. We need to be challenged to live beyond what’s normal. God often brings people into our lives to help us see the gifts he has placed within us.
What have you done with the gifts and talents God is giving you? Have you buried them? Forgotten them? Have you ever had anybody affirm or encourage you to step out and use them? We need help in reconnecting to that living hope that God has placed within us. We need people who believe in us, and we need to believe in each other.
It doesn’t matter if you’re just discovering who you are, like Todd Anderson. God has planted within each of us the desire to do great things through Jesus Christ. And he promises to be with us.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40: 30-31
So what? Facts on poverty
- A lack of clean drinking water is killing 2 million people a year
- 15.2 million children have lost one of both parents to AIDS
- There are 2.2 billion children in the world. 1 billion live in extreme poverty
- 1 million children are trafficked into exploitive labor each year
- 1 in 5 of the world’s children don’t have access to safe drinking water
- In 2003, 10.6 million children died before they reached the age of 5 – this is equivalent to all the children in France, Germany, Greece, and Italy combined). Most die from a lack of clean water, adequate food, or lack of healthcare. Things that we take for granted.
In just a few stats, we begin to see how big, and how overwhelming, and how seemingly insurmountable, the problem of poverty is, both at home and throughout the world. But exploring the issue of poverty is also challenging us to consider what God is calling us to do in the face of a problem so massive, so entrenched, and so complicated that we feel hopeless to confront it. More often than not, our response is to close our eyes and ears to the horrific suffering in the world. I am only one person, we think. What could I possibly do? Here’s the amazing thing.
The financial costs to end hunger are relatively slight. The United Nations Development Program estimates that the basic health and nutrition needs of the world’s poorest people could be met for an additional $13 billion a year.
Animal lovers in the United States and Europe spend more than that on pet food each year. What makes the difference between millions of hungry people and a world where all are fed? Only a change in priorities. Only the will to end hunger.
$1 will feed a child for a day; $30 – offers food for a month; $180 – food for six months; $360 – food for an entire year
Quote: No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank
Did you know that if we as American’s would simply stop over-eating, and sending the money that we used for that food to those who need it, there wouldn’t be anyone starving or under-nourished in the world.
If we would love those around us (point at the banner) as much as we love ourselves, a lot more of up heaven would be coming down to earth and a whole lot of hell would be evicted.
Last week we said that heaven was when we gave the love that God had given us away and hell was when we selfishly horded what God has given us. Hell is about selfishness, hording, and fear. Heaven is about love, sacrifice, and courage.
The reason why we clutch and hord – the reason why we become selfish is because we are concerned that there will not be enough. When we are connected to God and each other there is never a shortage. God is the one who burns, but is never consumed. He given but never runs dry. God says that we can’t out give him.
You have hope inside of you. How are you going to free the hope that lives within your heart? How will you stop hording it? Those around you need that hope. Right now they are living without hope. They need to receive the love of God in your heart.
Today, I encourage you to remember the example of Gideon, a normal, ordinary man, who God nonetheless called a mighty warrior. Think about Noah, David, Hosea, Moses, Samuel, Ester, and Peter — all normal people who were able to do extraordinary things when God moved within them.
Today, I challenge you to identify one way you underestimate God. In what ways has your faith become timid? And what will you do to give life and hope to others around you?
Is your heart burdened by the suffering of people all over the world? Do you feel the rumblings of God’s spirit within you? If you do, don’t ignore them. These vague feelings of discomfort, these images you can’t seem to ignore, this restlessness — all these are actually the beginnings of hope. They are the manifestations of God’s spirit within you, saying, you — yes, you — are a mighty warrior. You — yes, you — can do everything through him who gives you strength.
Over the next four weeks will explore various ideas for nurturing the hope that a stirring within you. Responding to the rumblings God places in your heart could be as simple as:
Slide 12: talking to the elderly neighbor. You’ve always thought you should connect with.
Slide 13: giving a single mom a break by caring for her children for evening or a weekend.
Slide 14: tutoring a disadvantage child at a local elementary school once a week.
Slide 15: sponsoring a child or more than one child through an organization like Compassion International.
Slide 16: going on a trip with us to Guatemala, in September 2010, to learn more about the issues firsthand, and to help those who are disadvantaged.
Slide 17: Saving pocket change or larger forms of currency to drill wells in areas where they have no clean water
Slide 18: Fast from all food, or something your addicted to and take the money you saved from not consuming those items and send the money to an organization who will provide for the needs of a child.
What is rumbling inside of you? During the upcoming week, ask God to show you where to start!
Life Link:
Leader: You may want to read some or all of Ali Jacobs letter that I emailed you. Your whole discussion could revolve around that letter or it could be fuel for the discussion. If you do this, try reading a paragraph and then ask people to respond. Make sure you ask questions that encourage the group to grapple with the issue of poverty in their own lives. I find it a very interesting part of her letter that says that poor people don’t have any choices. They either do what they do or they die – end of discussion.
- Has there ever been a time in your life where you were poor or been friends with someone who was poor? How did it make you feel?
- Do you have a dream? Is there something inside of you that wants to change the world – make a difference with your life, make it a better place, give people hope, and help people find healing from their pain?
- Do you consider yourself ordinary or extra ordinary? As Adam explained it on Sunday, what’s the difference between ordinary and extra ordinary? Do you think you were created to be ordinary or extra ordinary? How do we change?
- When it comes to the issue of the poor, does a wall go up in your heart and mind? If so, why? Is this of God or of the world
Quote: No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank
- If heaven is about love and hell about selfishness, then how should we respond? What’s enough? What’s too much? How do we join God in evicting evil and bring about good? How can we help every person become who God created them to be? How can you make a difference in one person’s life this week?
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