Sermon #1: Unwrapping God

Letters to God
Unwrapping Hope Sermon Series
Sermon #1: Unwrapping God
What He Has Done and Who He Is
(Show LtG clip of Tyler on the roof writing his letter to God…“My dad said that you made all
the stars.”)
Text: Psalm 147:1-11
The most important and daunting thing any minister could ever address: God… who He is
and what He has done.
In the movie, Letters to God, young Tyler learned well from his late father…
Who is God?
1. God is the Creator of the Universe…“In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
a) In much of academia—including the public school where your child
attends—creation is not a popular concept.
“Scientific theory that is confirmed by observational evidence tells us that the
universe began without being caused. It you want to be a rational person and
accept the results of rational inquiry into nature, then you must accept the fact that
God did not cause the universe to exist. The universe exists uncaused.” 1
—Dr. Quinton Smith
Professor of Philosophy
Western Michigan University
b) In contradiction to Dr. Smith’s statement, the Apostle Paul tells us that planted deep
in our minds is the knowledge that God is the Creator and by Him everything exists.
A “rational person” does, in fact, know about God’ creation. Listen to these words
from Romans 1:
“Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and
divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,
so that men are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
1
Quinton Smith, “Big Bang Cosmology and Atheism: What the Big Bang Is No Help to Theists,” Free
Inquiry 18, no.2, available at www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=smith_18_2.
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c) And sheer logic tells us that hydrogen and helium made by a Big Bang occurring
billions of years ago could not have created the Grand Tetons and a baby’s
eyelashes…massive sea creatures and the busy ants scooting across your
sidewalk. Nothing so indescribable as the creation could exist without the hand—the
voice—of a Creator.
(Some have said that it takes more faith to believe in an uncaused universe than to
believe in an Intelligent Designer. In fact, in his landmark book, The Origin of
Species, even Charles Darwin himself does not address how matter came to be that
eventually gave rise to the evolution of one species into the next. This reminds me
of the story of two scientists who tell God that they think that they can make a man
out of “the dust of the earth.” God takes them up on their plan and encourages them
to go ahead. They stoop down and begin to shovel some ground into a
wheelbarrow. “Not so fast,” God said. “Use your own dirt.”)
d) The vastness of the universe? You and I live on planet earth. We are part of The
Solar System—the sun and 9 planets.
i) Because the earth rotates one complete turn every 24 hours, that means that
at this moment you and I are on a merry-go-round, traveling at more than
1,000 MPH. But that’s not all…our earth is also in an orbit of 580 thousand
miles that takes a full year to complete. So we’re also traveling around the
sun at more than 66 thousand MPH. Whatever you do, hang on. (Of course,
because of gravity and the perfect balance of our own atmosphere, we’re
sitting here in perfect calm, even though we’re traveling at breakneck speed.)
ii) We are 93 million miles from the Sun and about 3_ billion miles from Pluto.
iii) Because of the awesome size of the universe, scientists do not measure it by
how fast your car travels on the freeway. They take the speed of light (186
thousand miles per second) and determine how far light would travel in a
year.
(1) At the speed of light, a trip to the moon would take you 1.2 seconds;
(2) A trip to sun would take 8_ minutes;
(3) The one-year earth trip around the sun, less than an hour;
(4) And a journey to Pluto, the planet most distant from the earth in our Solar
System, would only take 5 hours and 40 minutes, about as long as it
would take for you to drive from _(your city)_ to _(a city 350 miles away)_.
iv) But the Solar System is only a small part of our galaxy called The Milky Way
which contains billions of stars. The nearest star to our sun that’s not in our
Solar System is called Proxima Centauri. Going the speed of light, it would
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you 4.3 light years to reach this star from the sun. (The word “billion” is
becoming commonplace. But if, for some strange reason, you wanted to
count to a billion and could speak a number every second, it would take you
more than 31_ years.)
v) Era Carinae, another star in our galaxy is so huge that if it were hollowed out,
it could almost hold our entire Solar System…from the sun to Jupiter.
vi) Traveling at the speed of light, a journey across the breadth of our galaxy,
The Milky Way, would take you 100 thousand years.
vii)And—take a deep breath—in the entire universe there are billions and billions
of galaxies like The Milky Way.
viii)
Can you imagine such vastness? What does this mean?
e) The Psalmist David answers these questions this way: “The heavens declare the
glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).
f) And, as young Tyler says in one of his letters to God, these billions of stars are
known by the Creator. Our text today (from Psalm 147) tells us that he has given
each one a name.
i) Did you know that you can go to www.starregistry.com and name a star?
(“About Us” from the website) “Naming stars since 1979, our list of satisfied
customers include celebrities, dignitaries, and individuals worldwide. We
have named hundreds of thousands of stars for people from all walks of life.
So whether it be for your sweetheart or your top sales agent, a star name
makes a unique and welcome gift.”
ii) With all due respect to this idea and to the entrepreneur who came up with it,
this isn’t necessary. Each star already has a name…just ask Tyler.
B. God is Sovereign…the question of God’s involvement in the affairs of mankind is one
that we have struggled with from the beginning of recorded history.
1. “No doubt all history…must be held by Christians to be a story with a divine plot.”
—C.S.Lewis
“The longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in
the affairs of men.”
—Benjamin Franklin
2. The poster child confirming God’s ongoing activity within his creation is the man,
Job. We all know the awful tragedies this man experienced, recorded in the first
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chapter of the book of Job. Then, for the majority of the rest of the book, his wife
and three “friends” tried to assess to reasons for his suffering. From chapters 38
through 41, God presents His case for being in complete control of everything,
beginning with His creation.
Job responds to God’s words with a power admission of his own:
“I know that you can do everything, and that no purpose of yours can be withheld
from You…I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see
You.”
—Job 42: 2,5
3. As mortals we are left with only two choices: 1) God is unable to be involved (or is
merely apathetic) in world events or 2) God is sovereign. Jesus made it clear in His
own words that God is in control:
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground
apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are
numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
—Matthew 10:29-31
4. In his book, “Hope is Contagious,” Dr. Ken Hutcherson, having been diagnosed with
cancer, writes about God’s sovereignty.
“One day as I was praying and studying God’s word, I realized that I had made my
cancer about me rather than to look at it from an eternal perspective. As a preacher,
I have always tried to tell people to get out of the way and let God have his way, but
I wasn’t listening to my own sermons. I had to stop right there and recognize that
despite the cancer, God was still in control. Even if I didn’t feel like it, I reminded
myself…God knows what he is doing. His ways are always right. He is incapable of
making a mistake. So I quit fighting. From that day on, I made cancer my pastor.” 2
C. God is Holy…the Apostle Paul tried to describe God’s holiness to his young protégé
Timothy like this:
“…God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is
immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To
him be honor and might forever. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:15b,16).
1. The word “holy” appears hundreds of times in the Bible. Its synonyms include,
“perfectly clean, pure, different, and set apart.” But these fall short.
2. God is different from anything or anyone we can imagine. He is unapproachable
perfection. Dr. James MacDonald wrote:
“God is more righteous and pure, more piercing and powerful, more strong and
2
Ken Hutcherson, Hope is Contagious (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, copyright © 2010) p. __
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impenetrable than anything we can imagine. We comprehend only fractionally, even
infinitesimally, all that He is. He’s so different—so other—so holy. Every time you
hear the word holy, think separation; God is completely apart and entirely different
than you and me.” 3
3. God is meticulously independent, in a new category altogether. He is infinite and
transcends anything we can understand.
4. But the great irony of God’s holiness is that, although He “lives in unapproachable
light,” He invites us to come to Him as His children; He is mysterious and yet He
invites us to know Him.
D. God is Merciful…He understands our propensity to make a mess…to sin. This goes
back a long way to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ruined their perfect
relationship with God and with each other.
1. The Psalmist David summarizes God’s mercy this way:
“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those
who fear Him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”
—Psalm 103:13,14
2. The Prophet Jonah witnessed an entire city repent and be restored:
“When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had
compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”
—Jonah 3:10
But Jonah complained about God’s kindness, wishing instead that the people of
Ninevah would suffer for their sins:
“I knew that you were a gracious God,” Jonah whined, “slow to anger and abiding in
love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”
—Jonah 4:2
Even though Jonah didn’t like what had happened to Ninevah, he had no choice but
to admit that God was a merciful God.
3. The Apostle Paul summarizes God’s relentless kindness like this:
“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.”
—Ephesians 2:5
3
James MacDonald, Downpour: He Will Come to Us Like the Rain (Nashville: Broadman & Holman
Publishers, copyright © 2006), p.50
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E. God is the Creator of you and me…“You created my inmost being; you knit me
together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully
made” (Psalm 139:13,14).
1. Our bodies are miracles of God’s creation.
i.
Our hearts beat about 100 thousand times a day;
ii.
If the blood vessels and arteries in our bodies were stretched end to end, they
would encircle the earth 4 times.
iii.
If your iPod has 16 gigabytes of memory, it can store 3,500 songs. But (as of
this writing) you can buy an iPod with 160 gigabytes. You could record 83 days
of non-stop music. Although estimates are run the gamut, your brain has the
storage capacity of over 1 million gigabytes.
iv.
Stop and think how amazing your eyes are. Look around and try to imagine
what’s happening. With 137 million special cells in each of your retinas, every
millisecond they interpret 1.5 million impulses (that’s 1_ billion a second) and
send them to your brain.
v.
We are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139)
2. What does it mean to be a created being?
i.
Regardless of the situation surrounding your conception, you are not an
accident. (“You don’t know my parents,” you might say.)
ii.
Even before we were born, God knew us. Here are the LORD’s words to the
Old Testament prophet Jeremiah:
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; Before you were born I set you
apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5)
iii.
Like the prophet, you and I are created for a purpose…by God
3. God also gave us a soul and a spirit
i.
More precious than the wonder and soundness of our bodies is the part that
cannot be seen. As complex and amazing as we are physically, we’re more
than simply a collection of physical parts. We have been created in God’s very
image. (Genesis 1:27)
ii.
King David said it this way:
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars,
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which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of
man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly
beings and crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:3,4).
iii.
You and I have the capacity to give and receive love and compassion, the
ability to dream and build.
“The great violin-maker, Stradivari, marked every one of his carefully made
instruments with the name of Jesus. For that reason, these treasured
masterpieces of creation are still called, ‘Stradivarius del Gesu’ to this day.” 4
iv.
And—imagine this—God has given us the capacity to know Him.
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call
upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me
and find me when you seek me with all your heart’” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
F. What should we do with this information about God?
1. You and I need to look no further than the Prophet Isaiah for the answer to what all
of this means. After 55 years of the reign of the King Uzziah, Isaiah went into the
temple. Perhaps he was feeling a sense of civil uncertainty and fear, something you
and I can understand.
As he approached the altar he had a vision of the creator God…something we have
attempted to do today.
2. Isaiah responded as God would have us respond to this experience:
i.
Isaiah repented of his own sinfulness: “’Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I
am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.’” —Isaiah
6:5a
ii.
Isaiah worshiped: “My eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” —Isaiah
6:5b
iii.
Isaiah went out from the temple and spread the Good News: “Then I heard the
voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I
said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” —Isaiah 6:8
G. Closing Prayer
•
4
Thank God for His Creation
Harrison, Nick, Magnificent Prayer, Zondervan, copyright 2001, page 418
Unwrapping God
•
Thank Him for His Sovereignty
•
Thank Him for His Love and Mercy
•
“We confess, we repent, we worship, we celebrate, we go. Amen.”
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Letters to God
Unwrapping Hope Sermon Series
Sermon #2: Unwrapping the Savior
Have You Tried Jesus?
Text: Colossians 1:15-17
(Show LtG clip of Brady walking up the sidewalk to the church while the choir is practicing,
“Have You Tried Jesus?” Conclude the clip with Stephens telling Brady that with his hands
clasped, “Now, nothing can get through.”)
In the movie, Letters to God, the postman Brady McDaniel’s life has turned to dust. What
he needs is a Savior…
A. Who is Jesus?
3. Jesus is the Son of God…“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of
the Living God’” (Matthew 16:16).
a) The setting of Jesus’ toughest question to his disciples was the remote, serene
and lush Caesarea Philippi about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It may
have been their first vacation together.
i) “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (16:13) he asked. In other words,
“What are the folks out there saying about me?”
ii) “Where’s He going with this?” they must have wondered.
iii) “Some say John the Baptist: others say Elijah, and still others, Jeremiah or
one of the prophets,” (16:14) they said, hoping that these would answer
Jesus’ question.
iv) Without responding to their responses, Jesus asked the question every man
and women must eventually be asked. It’s the question of the day today.
“But what about you? Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” (16:15)
b) As though Someone outside his control was borrowing Simon Peter’s mouth to
give the right answer, these words were spoken: “You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God” (16:16).
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i) Actually, that’s exactly what happened. The words Peter said that day came
straight from the Holy Spirit. (16:17)
ii) Jesus affirms Peter’s words and then for the first time in recorded history,
Jesus speaks the word “church.” (We will talk about the church in a few
weeks.) Jesus confirms that the reason for the gathering of His people for all
time will be this indisputable fact: Jesus is the Son of God.
c) What bewilders me about this conversation is that, after two years of being with
the Messiah, it took the outspoken Peter to answer Jesus question. Shouldn’t
the disciples have answered in unison…or at least verbally agreed with Peter’s
answer? Nothing is recorded as to their response in words or nods. No wonder
“Who is Jesus?” is a tough question to answer.
d) What may be even more perplexing is that Jesus then commanded his friends
“not to tell anyone that He was the Christ” (16:20).
i) Jesus had given the same don’t-tell-anyone instructions to others (Matthew
8:4, Matthew 12:16).
ii) No self-respecting capitalist would have passed up the chance to begin a
campaign publicize his miracles or the claim to Jesus’ Messiahship. Imagine
the coverage He could have claimed. Headlines across the civilized world.
“Nazarene Raises Dead Girl to Life.” “Rabbi Calms Storm.”
iii) The reasons for this stealth approach included: a) the probability of inspiring
zealotry and fueling a political uprising against Roman captivity, now that the
Jews would have had their own “King”; b) a diversion from Jesus’ primary
mission of salvation and repentance…to the love and heal people, inside and
out.
4. Jesus Created Everything…“By [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven
and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things were created by him and for him” (Colossians 1:16).
a) Christmas is almost everyone’s favorite time of the year, but the “danger” of
Christmas can come in thinking that Jesus first showed up that chilly day in the
Bethlehem stable. But Jesus Christ, God’s Son does not have a beginning and
He will not have an end. Bible scholars refer to this as the pre-existence and the
eternality of Jesus.
i) Dozens of times in the Bible, people encounter angels. But throughout the
Old Testament, a certain kind of angel makes His appearance many
times…the “Angel of the Lord.”
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(1) Moses’ conversation with such an angel at the burning bush (Exodus 3)
may be the best known. Since an actual, face to face dialogue with the
Sovereign God (1 John 4:12) would not be possible, most evangelical
scholars agree that this Angel of the Lord was nothing less than the preincarnate Christ.
(2) If Jesus was available to speak with Moses—and many others recorded in
the Old Testament—thousands of years before his incarnation as a baby
boy, then Christmas morning was not the “birth” of the Son of God. As
Christmas we celebrate the eternal God slipping himself into the skin of a
mortal baby. This was not His beginning.
b) The Apostle Paul (Colossians 1) made it clear that Jesus was present and
involved in creation.
i) During the days of the creation of everything from stars to snails, from
glaciers to fingernails, the Bible tells us that God referred to Himself in the
plural: “And God said, let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:16.) As the
third person of the Trinity, Jesus existed before the foundation of the earth.
ii) The fact that as a member of the Trinity—Jesus eternally existed with the
Father and the Holy Spirit—this makes his coming to earth as a human even
more astounding. “[Jesus], who, being in very nature God, did not consider
equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking
the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians
2:6,7)
H. Jesus Is the Only Way to Salvation…for many this is the watershed issue about
Jesus Christ. Most agree that he was a “good person” or even “a special prophet of
God.” But in a pluralistic world, the claim that He is the only way to salvation is not an
openly popular concept. In fact, it’s downright unpopular.
1. He said this about Himself.
In spite of Jesus’ attempts to sidestep the spotlight, there were times when direct
questions regarding His identity were inevitable. Not long after His private holiday
with His disciples at Caesarea Philippi, there was an encounter in the Jerusalem
temple. And this time the question was asked of Jesus…concerning Himself.
“And Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. The Jews
gathered around him, saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are
the Christ (the Messiah), tell us plainly’ (John 10:23,24).
Jesus’ answer was clear and unmistakable. “I and the Father are one” (10:30).
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2. At this point, not taking what they considered blasphemy lightly, they picked up
stones intending to pummel Jesus with them. Their intention was to kill him. The
heated conversation that followed between Jesus and these pious Jews is very
interesting. Jesus clearly knew these men were bloodthirsty but was willing to risk
His life in order to speak to them. He was speaking truth.
3. You’re not responsible for defending His claims of divinity and exclusivity, only to
report them.
(You may have your own story, but here’s a true account in case you don’t.)
“I know of a man who was flying to his home city by air after a few busy days of
business on the road. He had only said ‘hello’ to the woman sitting next to him but
they had both gone straight to their work…he on his laptop, she in her book.
“But as the journey was nearing completion, once the flight attendant had
announced their ‘final approach,’ the man closed up his computer and greeted the
reader next door. Telling her his name, he found out that hers was ‘Edith’. He
asked her about her hometown, her family, and her work. She was a deacon in a
mainline denominational church. She asked him about himself. He was a
businessman in the city where their collective wheels were about to touch down. He
taught Sunday school in a church with a name that sounded to Edith like ‘one of
those fundamentalist groups.’
“Bristling with obvious disdain, Edith immediately charged the man with being closed
minded and exclusive about Jesus. ‘Oh, I know your kind,’ she said, a crisp
cynicism in her voice. ‘You’re the kind that says that Jesus is the only way to
heaven.’
“A little surprised by her sudden forthrightness, the man responded quickly and
calmly. ‘Actually, I don’t need to say this about Jesus being the only way to
salvation.’
“Now it was Edith’s turn to be surprised. ‘You don’t?’ she asked apologetically.
“’No,’ the man replied. ‘I don’t need to say this about Jesus because He said it
plenty of times about Himself. I’ve decided to go with what He said.’”
4. Jesus is our advocate.
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all men” (1 Timothy 2:5,6a).
Undeserving as we are, Jesus takes our case to His Father and pleads for our
mercy.
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During the time of the Revolutionary War, there lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania a
Baptist pastor named Peter Miller, a personal friend to General George Washington.
A surly and cruel man named Michael Wittman also lived in Ephrata and he did
everything he could to abuse and oppose the pastor. One day Wittman was
arrested for treason and sentenced to death. Pastor Miller immediately started on
foot, walking the seventy miles to Philadelphia to plead Wittman’s case. He was
admitted into General Washington’s presence and begged for the life of the traitor.
“No Peter,” was Washington’s reply. “I cannot grant you the life of your friend.”
“He is not my friend,” Miller exclaimed. “He is the bitterest enemy I have.”
“What?” cried Washington. “You have walked seventy miles to save the life of an
enemy?” Then Washington added, “That puts this in a different light. I will grant the
pardon.” And he did.5
5. Jesus was an impostor or He was the Savior. We cannot have it both ways.
C. S. Lewis frames this truth in his inimitable, straightforward style: “You can shut
[Jesus] up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at
His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing
nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.
He did not intend to.”6
6. The resurrection seals His divinity as a fact.
The Apostle Paul is clear about this. “But the fact is that Christ has been raised from
the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who have been raised
to life again. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam,
now the resurrection of the dead has begun through another man, Christ” (1
Corinthians 15:20,21 NLT)
Like Paul, modern intellectuals are coming to the same conclusion. Listen to this
excerpt from an article published in The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2009…
“Have you ever heard the one about the Christian who started to study calculus and
ended up losing his faith? Of course you have. Such “conversion” to atheism is
supposed to be the story of all modern, thinking people. But imagine it happening
the other way around. Moreover, imagine the convert being a well-informed, public
intellectual who had made it his business to argue that faith is irrational?
“Just such a conversion has happened to A.N. Wilson, the 58-year-old British
biographer, novelist and man of letters. He was once an observant Anglican and,
later, a Roman Catholic, but in the 1980s he lost his faith and began skewering the
5
James S. Hewitt, Illustrations Unlimited, copyright © 1988, Wheaton, Illinois, Tyndale House Publishers
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (©1952 original edition; New York: HarperCollins, revision 2001), page
52.
6
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supposed delusions of the faithful. His anti-faith stance was expressed in books
such as God’s Funeral (1999) and Jesus: A Lie (1992). A few weeks ago, however,
Mr. Wilson confessed that Christ had risen indeed. He attributed this to ‘the
confidence I have gained with age.’ He now says that atheists are like ‘people who
have no ear from music or who have never been in love.’”7
I. Jesus Came to Save Lost People…like Brady the postman…like you and
me…Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost” (Luke
19:10)
1. We all have our stories about getting lost. Before the advent of the GPS in most
cars, many of the men in this room/auditorium/sanctuary are guilty of having
sidestepped their better judgment, refusing to stop and ask directions. We can smile
about some of these adventures, but being spiritually lost is no laughing matter.
2. The longest and best known parable Jesus told can be found in Luke 15. It’s the
story of the prodigal son but, actually, the chapter contains three stories, each one is
about being lost.
i.
One little sheep innocently nibbling on some grass here, a better looking tuft
over there, a great looking stand just ahead…and before he knows it, he (I’ve
awarded the sheep the male gender.) has no idea where he is. He is lost.
ii.
A coin gets misplaced. Although it did not get there on its own, it surely has
something in common with the sheep. It too is lost.
iii.
A son. Actually, two sons. The younger shakes his rebel fist in his father’s
face, wishing the old man were dead. He demands the inheritance that will
become his at his father’s passing and scampers off to a foreign land to
“squander his wealth in wild living.” The elder son, not one for outward
rebelling but a man proud of his good deeds, serves his father but does so with
strings attached. While his little brother’s sin is one of unrighteousness, his
smacks of shameless self righteousness. Two men with the same problem as
the sheep and the coin. They are lost.
3. And regardless of who we are, without consideration of our age or status, we all
identify with the sheep and the coin and the sons. Eighteenth-century hymn writer,
Robert Robinson, penned it clearly:
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love.
4. The shepherd, the woman, and the father received their sheep, their coin, and their
son back with open arms. With love, compassion, and celebration. God’s grace is
7
Larsen, Timothy “Look Who’s a Believer Now” WSJ.com, Copyright © 2009 Dow Jones & Company.
All Rights Reserved. (italics added)
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exactly this.
i.
There is no word in the Hebrew that translates as “grace.”
ii.
The old law demanded reparations for lostness, sacrifice for sin.
iii.
But Jesus changed everything. Now forgiveness is offered as a free gift…even
before we ask for it. We see this best in the prodigal’s father running to meet
his wayward son, stopping the “I’m sorry, dad” speech in midsentence, and
immediately lavishing the boy with a robe, a ring, sandals…and a party.
5. The Apostle Paul summarized this amazing transaction—our sin for Christ’s
righteousness—in his second letter to his young protégé, Timothy:
“It is God who saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we
have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us
in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through
the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9b,10a).
J. Jesus’ Life Was Like None Other
Let’s pretend that this morning, you stepped off a spaceship and my voice is the first
human voice you’ve ever heard. I’m speaking about Jesus Christ and how He came to
save lost people from their sins. You’re hearing from me that, over two thousand years
ago, this man claimed to be God’s Son, the long-awaited Messiah to the Jews.
After this service/meeting, you seek me out and ask me the inevitable question. “Well,
was this Jesus who He said He was? Was he the Messiah…the Son of God?”
I point the interior of the building where we’ve been meeting. “This building was
constructed in His honor,” I say.
You look around and scratch your head, thinking that if this was built for Jesus, it must
have been built a long time ago and it seems to have survived pretty well for being so
old. “When was this structure built?” you ask.
Actually, it was constructed in ______.
You’re amazed, realizing that this building was placed here in honor of this Jesus
thousands of years after His visit to earth. Then I get an idea.
“Let’s go for a drive,” I suggest. “I want to show you around town.”
Within three blocks of our parking lot we pass another building. “There’s another one
built in honor of Jesus.” You see a cross out front and remember the one in front of our
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building.
Over the next hour we drive all around ___(your town)___, and we pass more than a
hundred buildings also standing as meeting places to honor Jesus. As we drive back to
my study, I tell you that if we were to travel the earth, we would see over a million such
buildings. Breathtaking cathedrals of stone and cut glass to hovels made of sticks and
straw. You’re speechless, but I’m not finished.
Back in my study I boot up my computer. As you wait, you scan my bookshelves,
noticing dozens of volumes written by men and women who claim to be devout
followers of Jesus.
“Come over here,” I say once my computer screen is ready. I log onto my favorite online bookstore and look up books written about Jesus. “There are over a quarter of a
million of them,” I say, my voice nearly lifting to the enthusiasm of a revivalist preacher.
“All these books about this man, Jesus?” you ask redundantly.
I walk over to my bookshelf and take down a large volume titled, The Foxes Book of
Martyrs. Over then next hour, I read stories of men, women, and even children who
willingly walked to their own executions, simply to defend their right to claim Jesus as
their Lord and Savior.
You are dumbstruck.
Then I take the Bible from my desk and hand it to you. I talk about how miraculously
this Book has been preserved—and how reliable the text is, even surviving centuries of
pointed attempts to destroy it or mock its contents. I read some of the Old Testament
prophecies foretelling the specific facts about Jesus, hundreds of years prior to His
birth, death, and resurrection.
From the book of Acts, I read the story of how the church—all those buildings erected in
His honor—got its start. And we read about how, some day, Jesus is coming back to
earth.
“After so many years, copies of this book must be very rare,” you say.
“No really,” I respond, smiling. “Last year over a half a billion of them were distributed
around the world…in almost every known language.”
“Last year?”
“It’s the best-selling book of all time,” I add.
You shake your head in disbelief. The past few hours have stunned you. You sit in my
study right here at our church with plenty to ponder and very little to say.
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“Was He the One?” you finally say in almost a whisper.
I nod.
“He must have been,” you say. “And with all I have seen and everything you have told
me, I cannot imagine that there would be anyone on your planet who wouldn’t believe in
Him.
Now it was my turn to be silent.
K. What should we do with this information about Jesus?
(If there’s time, show the movie clip with Tyler in the hospital when Maddy and Brady
come into his room…then Samantha and Alex…all the way to the end of Alex’s VO of
his letter.)
1. In the hospital scene in “Letters to God,” after Alex asks Tyler how he can be sure
that he’s going to heaven, Tyler says, “Here’s the thing…I know you have to love
God and be sorry for your sins, pray and give your heart to Jesus.” Then he prays
for Alex. “Dear God, help Alex to find the door to his heart and let you in. In Jesus’
name, Amen.”
2. A very simple prayer, a remarkable event. The Apostle Paul describes it like this:
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe
and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans
10:9,10).
L. Summary
1. Who is Jesus?
i.
He is the Son of God
ii.
He is the only way to Salvation
iii.
He came to save lost people
2. The time to come to him by faith…is now.
“Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation” (2
Corinthians 6:2b NLT).
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M. Closing Prayer
•
Thank God for Jesus (2 Corinthians 9:15)
•
Thank Him for His grace…the cross, forgiven sin and reconciliation with the
Father.
•
Invite those who are lost and have not confessed their sin to repent and be
converted (Acts 3:19). Let the Spirit lead you regarding repeating a “sinner’s
prayer” and an opportunity for a visible response.
•
“We confess, we repent, we worship, we celebrate, we go.”
Letters to God
Unwrapping Hope Sermon Series
Sermon #3: Unwrapping Prayer
Your Letter to God
Text: Luke 11:1-10
(Show LtG clip of Brady walking up the Dougherty front screen door and knocking.
Conclude the clip with Maddy saying “like old times.”)
The movie, Letters to God, is a story about the power of prayer. In fact, the original
screenplay was written by young Tyler Doughtie’s father who, after Tyler had succumbed to
the ravages of brain cancer, found letters in his son’s treasure box addressed to God. As
the movie powerfully reveals, these letters were quite simply, prayers from the heart of a
boy.
Today, we are going to look at the subject of prayer…
A. Some common misconceptions about prayer
5. Prayer is not trying to talk a reluctant God into being nice.
You may have done this when you were little, but you can picture a child trying to
beg his parents for something the fellow really wants. “Please the youngster may
whine. Please. Pleeeeease.”
Listen to Jesus’ words about this very thing:
“Which of you, if his son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a
fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more will you Father in heaven give good gifts to
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those who ask him” (Matthew 7:9-11).
God’s love for you and me knows no boundaries. His gifts to us are not given
reluctantly. His grace is lavish. He is not reluctant.
6. Prayer is not a time for announcements
Sometimes, especially in public prayers, people run through the calendar. The
church schedule may be summarized…“And, Lord, bless the covered dish supper
next Saturday night at 6:00 in the Fellowship Hall. And help those whose last names
begin with A through G to remember to bring casseroles, and those whose last
names begin with H through J to bring a vegetable…” It’s as though God isn’t quite
sure about some of these details and needs the reminder.
I suppose that it goes without saying, but God already knows everything, including
the details of the potluck dinner.
7. Prayer is not an opportunity for a performance…a dramatic soliloquy.
Sometimes when we hear people praying in public, we wonder if they’re actually
more interested in impressing those around them with their ability to speak holy
language than truly communicating with God. Apparently this isn’t a new idea. In
the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about it.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in
the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men” (Matthew 6:5a).
As though it was being performer on a theater stage, prayers like these often seem
to be filled with language meant to stir the minds of those listening rather than to be
a humble message meant for the heart of God.
a) In the Greek, the idea of “hypocrisy” was not to impugn the insincere heart of a
person, it was suggesting the role of an actor on a stage. (We wouldn’t refer to
such a person as a “hypocrite”. Instead, we would realize that, in their role, they
have temporarily become someone they are not.)
b) Often people’s resistance to a regular prayer life is that they are insecure about
their ability to use “the right language”...pristine words meticulously strung
together to make it sound just right. Maybe you have felt like this.
8. Prayer is not an opportunity to expose secrets…prayer isn’t a chance to gossip
The old expression was “praying more intelligently.” In other words, let’s pass
around the juicy details under the guise of collecting prayer requests. It’s a federal
offense to open someone else’s mailbox and take something out. It’s no less a
problem to have access to and then share the intimate details of someone else’s
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situation simply so others can pray for them.
God keeps an account of the hairs on our head; he surely knows every detail of
each person’s trouble.
9. Prayer is not to be mindlessly habitual and rote
Jesus warned against ritualistic prayers that are said over and over and over again.
“When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be
heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7).
“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep…” is probably better
than jumping into bed without a prayer. And “God is great, God is good, let us thank
Him for our food” is not a bad idea before diving into dinner. But these can become
rote prayers, spoken out of thoughtless habit rather than a desire to enter into God’s
holy presence.
Before you are tempted to drop into a memorized prayer, stop and pretend that
you’re really having a conversation with a God who loves you and deserves to hear
something in your own unique voice.
B. Then what is prayer supposed to be? And how am I supposed to pray? What
does the Scripture say?
1. Prayer is an opportunity to communicate directly with the God of the Universe
What if you were scheduled to meet early tomorrow morning with a very famous
person? This is the individual for whom you have the greatest admiration and
respect. He is known and highly respected around the world and you are going to
have an audience.
You would hardly sleep tonight and would probably jump out of bed, eager to
prepare for this important meeting.
As the moment approaches, you’d be anxious. Maybe a little nervous.
But what if your meeting was a one-on-one with the Sovereign, Creator God of the
Universe? The One who sent his Son to save the lost and reconcile you with
Himself. The apostle James gives us specific instructions about our meeting with
this One.
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (James 4:16).
Prayer is exactly this…a chance to boldly approach God’s throne and speak to the
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One who lavishly extends his grace to us.
2. The Lord’s Prayer is the model for prayer
Someone may say, isn’t the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples also rote…meant
to be repeated?
A. Even though we may recite the Lord’s Prayer in worship services—and this is a
good thing—the prayer that Jesus taught should be seen, primarily, as a model
for prayer. In fact, Jesus told his disciples, “This, then, is how you should pray”
(Matthew 6:9 italics added). He didn’t say, “Every time you pray, only say these
very words.”
(Some may say that this is a difference without a distinction, but even the prayers
Jesus Himself prayed that are recorded in the Bible are not all the same as this
prayer.)
2. The ingredients of the Lord’s Prayer form the basis, the foundation for
prayer.
Any concert pianist will tell you that if you want to make great music while
sitting on a piano bench, you must first learn the scales. These may seem
boring and unimportant, but every great musical work sits firmly on the
concrete of these same scales. If you and I want to pray, we must learn to
pray as Jesus prayed.
To change the metaphor, the ingredients of the Lord’s Prayer become the
basis for a feast of intimate prayer—a conversation with our heavenly
Father.
3. The Lord’s Prayer underscores the need for prayer to be about God first,
then about you and me.
Notice: “Your name.” “Your kingdom come.” “Your will be done.” Then
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
Whatever the words you and I use when we pray, this is the repeatable
pattern that Jesus was talking about when He told His disciples to “Pray
like this.”
2. Prayer takes us into the presence of a holy God.
When we pray, you and I are literally entering into the most spectacular Throne
Room in the universe. This fact should shape everything about the way we
pray…but be careful not to be paralyzed.
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a.
Sure enough, the Old Testament concept of God as recorded by the writer
to the Hebrews is plenty intimidating: “Let us be thankful, and so worship God
with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28b,29).
b.
Like a skilled defense lawyer, Jesus is our advocate. God hears our
prayer because Jesus has paved the way. He has already gone to His
Father—the perfect Judge—and pled our case. “We have one who speaks to the
Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1b).
c.
This awesome God surely deserves our worship. His presence does fill
us with speechless wonder. But, because of Jesus, when we step into this
throne room in prayer, He embraces us—sinful and repentant men and women
(Luke 15:20); He recognizes us as His children (Psalm 103:13); and He even
offers us our own crown (2 Timothy 4:8). Can you imagine?
3. Over the centuries, much has been discussed regarding the correct physical position
when we pray. There is no specific recommendations in the Bible about this, but
there are many different ones described:
a.
Kneeling
This is a position of deep respect and humility. Many who came to Jesus knelt
down as an act of reverence, seeking His healing. His mercy. A father with an
epileptic son (Matthew 17:14,15), a leper who wanted to be healed (Mark 1:40),
the mother of James and John (Matthew 20:20).
In the book of Daniel, King Darius issued a decree that anyone who prays to to
any god other than himself will be thrown to his death in a den of lions. In quiet
defiance, one man disobeyed.
“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home
to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three
times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God,
just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10).
The Psalmist David must have also spent time on his knees in prayer. “Come
let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker” (Psalm
95:15).
b.
Lifting our hands
Although this position for prayer is often associated with a certain Protestant
denomination, the Apostle Paul instructs his young protégé Timothy with the
following: “I want men everywhere to life up holy hands in prayer, without
anger or disputing” (1 Timothy 2:8).
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You and I have been to sports games where our team has just scored a
touchdown or hit a homerun and sunk a three-point shot to win the game.
Lifting our hands is a position of joyful praise. Sometimes it’s also appropriate
in prayer.
c.
Finding a place to pray in secret
Our lives are filled with noisy distractions. Everywhere we go there’s something
to listen to. Something to watch. Something with a battery. Something to
dodge or chase.
Jesus understood how these things could keep us from focusing on Him when
we pray so he said, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and
pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done
in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).
4. God knows our hearts
As we saw in “Letters to God,” our prayers are addressed to God alone. This is an
intimate conversation. And even though our hearts are filled with awe at the chance
to speak with Him, God welcomes you and me as His beloved sons and daughters.
He is our “Papa.” Our “Daddy.”
The Apostle Paul writes about this clearly:
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you
received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba Father’” (Romans 8:15).
Because we are His children, he knows who we are. He made us, He loves us, and
He wants us to come to Him and speak with Him as a highly respected parent…just
as we are.
C. Why should I pray?
1. Prayer is commanded
The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, penned these words:
“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests”
(Ephesians 6:18a). He also wrote, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give
thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1
Thessalonians 5:16-18).
So serious is God about our need to pray that to not pray is to sin. Samuel the
prophet told his people, after they begged him to pray for God’s protection for
their asking for a human king (although they knew it was an offense to Him), “Far
be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you” (1
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Samuel 13:23a).
2. Prayer insures that God will receive the glory He is due
Remember at the Last Supper when Jesus told his disciples that he will “do
whatever you ask in my name”? Why did Jesus say this? Was it so that the
twelve could now get whatever they wanted in order to live prosperous and
happy lives? No. He tells them immediately why he’s made this promise.
“…so that the Son may bring glory to the Father” (John 14:13).
Prayer isn’t primarily about getting what we want. Although God does care that
we have what we need—and he wants to bless us because we’ve prayed—his
primary reason for answered prayer is to put his goodness, wisdom, power and
grace on display.
The eternal benefit of prayer is that it magnifies God’s glory. That is why we
know we will receive from him what is best for us and what glorifies Him most.8
3. Humble prayer results in answers
Way back in the Old Testament, the good king Hezekiah was stricken with a
terminal illness. We don’t know the nature of his sickness but the prophet Isaiah
came to Hezekiah and told him to put his house in order.
The king “turned his face to the wall” and prayed…and wept bitterly. Can you
see the humility and the brokenness of this man?
As Isaiah was leaving the presence of the king, the LORD spoke to him and told
him to return to the king with this message: “I have heard your prayer and seen
your tears; I will heal you” (2 Kings 20:5b).
James the Apostle echoed this when he wrote: “Confess your sins to each other
and prayer for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous
man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).
(James calls such a man whose prayers are answered “righteous.” However, the
Scripture makes it clear that our own righteousness is not enough to gain God’s
favor…“filthy rags” is that label Isaiah [64:6] pins to our goodness. Not a pretty
sight. But, through Jesus Christ and His atoning death on the cross, His
righteousness literally becomes ours. “…God will credit righteousness—for us
who believe in him, who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” [Romans 4:24].)
All along, the Lord had intended to heal Hezekiah. The King’s prayer didn’t twist
8
From John MacArthur, “Lord, Teach Me to Pray” Copyright © 2003, Thomas Nelson Publishers, p. 22.
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the arm of a reluctant God. But God’s will for the king’s healing—the answer to
Hezekiah’s prayer—included the expression of abject humility through his tears.
4. Prayer brings us into alignment with God’s plans
There’s no more poignant example of this than Jesus in the garden the night He
was betrayed. In His humanity, Jesus admitted twice His desire to have His own
way, but His prayer concluded with His submission to God’s plan: architectural
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but
as you will…My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I
drink it, may your will be done” (Matthew 26:39b, 42b).
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5. Our prayers should be no less than this. God surely invites us to tell Him about
our deepest desires, but our conclusion must include our willingness for Him to
have His way. For His perfect plan to be accomplished. Our will is aligned with
His.
D. Why Not Write Your Own Letter to God?…“Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations” (A Letter to God from king David, Psalm 90:1).
1.
In the film, “Letters to God,” young Tyler discovers a powerful way to pray. In
simple, childlike faith, he writes out his prayers and confidently places them in the
mailbox. Like king David, he puts his words to God in writing.
Tyler’s real-life pastor, Dr. Andre’ Dugger, writes in his book, Prayer, Your Letter to
God:
“Although I’ve been a Christian since I was a teenager, and have written prayers in a
journal for some time, I had never thought of prayer as writing letters to God. But
when I learned about Tyler’s letters, it made perfect sense. After all, prayer is
communicating and expressing your heart to God. Who says it always has to be
done verbally? And when you stop and think about it, many of the Psalms are written
prayers to God. As I began writing out my prayers to God in the form of a letter, it
opened up an entirely new dimension to my prayer life.” 9
In the book, Dr. Dugger identifies the tangible benefits of writing your own letters to
God.
i.
A sharper focus on what you’re praying
We have all had the experience of getting distracted when we are praying.
What time is that meeting this afternoon? Did Johnny study enough last night
for his test? Boy, am I hungry!
Putting our prayers in writing almost completely eliminates these distractions.
ii.
A permanent record of your correspondence with God
You may not be an avid journaler…but the act of writing out your prayers will
start you on an amazing adventure of remembering God’s faithfulness as you
pray and as He answers.
iii.
A tangible reminder of your love for God
Do you remember when you first fell in love? You thought about this special
person constantly. And you looked for multiple, creative ways to express this
love. As you write your letters to God, you’ll find yourself writing words to your
9
Andre’ K. Dugger, “Prayer, Your Letter to God,” copyright 2010, Zondervan, p.__
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Heavenly Father that will remind you of how grateful you are for His love and
grace and blessings to you.
E. Summary
1.
Prayer takes us into the very presence of the God of the Universe.
2.
Jesus modeled prayer by making certain that we understand it’s first about Him
and then about us.
3.
Prayer is not meant to be a performance. It’s a time to be transparent before the
God who loves us and gave his life for us. We come to Him in humility and
repentance.
4.
God answers our prayer in a way that we are aligned with His plans.
F. Closing Prayer
•
Thank God for Prayer…the opportunity to approach His holy throne
•
Thank Him for the strength He will give us to pray more consistently—even to
write our prayers to Him—this week
•
Thank Him for His Love and Mercy and Grace and His blessings.
•
“We confess, we worship, we go.”
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Letters to God
Unwrapping Hope Sermon Series
Sermon #3: Unwrapping Prayer
Your Letter to God
Text: Luke 11:1-10
(Show LtG clip of Brady walking up the Dougherty front screen door and knocking.
Conclude the clip with Maddy saying “like old times.”)
The movie, Letters to God, is a story about the power of prayer. In fact, the original
screenplay was written by young Tyler Doughtie’s father who, after Tyler had succumbed to
the ravages of brain cancer, found letters in his son’s treasure box addressed to God. As
the movie powerfully reveals, these letters were quite simply, prayers from the heart of a
boy.
Today, we are going to look at the subject of prayer…
G. Some common misconceptions about prayer
10. Prayer is not trying to talk a reluctant God into being nice.
You may have done this when you were little, but you can picture a child trying to
beg his parents for something the fellow really wants. “Please the youngster may
whine. Please. Pleeeeease.”
Listen to Jesus’ words about this very thing:
“Which of you, if his son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a
fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more will you Father in heaven give good gifts to
those who ask him” (Matthew 7:9-11).
God’s love for you and me knows no boundaries. His gifts to us are not given
reluctantly. His grace is lavish. He is not reluctant.
11. Prayer is not a time for announcements
Sometimes, especially in public prayers, people run through the calendar. The
church schedule may be summarized…“And, Lord, bless the covered dish supper
next Saturday night at 6:00 in the Fellowship Hall. And help those whose last names
begin with A through G to remember to bring casseroles, and those whose last
names begin with H through J to bring a vegetable…” It’s as though God isn’t quite
sure about some of these details and needs the reminder.
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I suppose that it goes without saying, but God already knows everything, including
the details of the potluck dinner.
12. Prayer is not an opportunity for a performance…a dramatic soliloquy.
Sometimes when we hear people praying in public, we wonder if they’re actually
more interested in impressing those around them with their ability to speak holy
language than truly communicating with God. Apparently this isn’t a new idea. In
the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about it.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in
the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men” (Matthew 6:5a).
As though it was being performer on a theater stage, prayers like these often seem
to be filled with language meant to stir the minds of those listening rather than to be
a humble message meant for the heart of God.
a) In the Greek, the idea of “hypocrisy” was not to impugn the insincere heart of a
person, it was suggesting the role of an actor on a stage. (We wouldn’t refer to
such a person as a “hypocrite”. Instead, we would realize that, in their role, they
have temporarily become someone they are not.)
b) Often people’s resistance to a regular prayer life is that they are insecure about
their ability to use “the right language”...pristine words meticulously strung
together to make it sound just right. Maybe you have felt like this.
13. Prayer is not an opportunity to expose secrets…prayer isn’t a chance to gossip
The old expression was “praying more intelligently.” In other words, let’s pass
around the juicy details under the guise of collecting prayer requests. It’s a federal
offense to open someone else’s mailbox and take something out. It’s no less a
problem to have access to and then share the intimate details of someone else’s
situation simply so others can pray for them.
God keeps an account of the hairs on our head; he surely knows every detail of
each person’s trouble.
14. Prayer is not to be mindlessly habitual and rote
Jesus warned against ritualistic prayers that are said over and over and over again.
“When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be
heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7).
“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep…” is probably better
than jumping into bed without a prayer. And “God is great, God is good, let us thank
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Him for our food” is not a bad idea before diving into dinner. But these can become
rote prayers, spoken out of thoughtless habit rather than a desire to enter into God’s
holy presence.
Before you are tempted to drop into a memorized prayer, stop and pretend that
you’re really having a conversation with a God who loves you and deserves to hear
something in your own unique voice.
H. Then what is prayer supposed to be? And how am I supposed to pray? What
does the Scripture say?
1. Prayer is an opportunity to communicate directly with the God of the Universe
What if you were scheduled to meet early tomorrow morning with a very famous
person? This is the individual for whom you have the greatest admiration and
respect. He is known and highly respected around the world and you are going to
have an audience.
You would hardly sleep tonight and would probably jump out of bed, eager to
prepare for this important meeting.
As the moment approaches, you’d be anxious. Maybe a little nervous.
But what if your meeting was a one-on-one with the Sovereign, Creator God of the
Universe? The One who sent his Son to save the lost and reconcile you with
Himself. The apostle James gives us specific instructions about our meeting with
this One.
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (James 4:16).
Prayer is exactly this…a chance to boldly approach God’s throne and speak to the
One who lavishly extends his grace to us.
2. The Lord’s Prayer is the model for prayer
Someone may say, isn’t the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples also rote…meant
to be repeated?
B. Even though we may recite the Lord’s Prayer in worship services—and this is a
good thing—the prayer that Jesus taught should be seen, primarily, as a model
for prayer. In fact, Jesus told his disciples, “This, then, is how you should pray”
(Matthew 6:9 italics added). He didn’t say, “Every time you pray, only say these
very words.”
(Some may say that this is a difference without a distinction, but even the prayers
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Jesus Himself prayed that are recorded in the Bible are not all the same as this
prayer.)
2. The ingredients of the Lord’s Prayer form the basis, the foundation for
prayer.
Any concert pianist will tell you that if you want to make great music while
sitting on a piano bench, you must first learn the scales. These may seem
boring and unimportant, but every great musical work sits firmly on the
concrete of these same scales. If you and I want to pray, we must learn to
pray as Jesus prayed.
To change the metaphor, the ingredients of the Lord’s Prayer become the
basis for a feast of intimate prayer—a conversation with our heavenly
Father.
3. The Lord’s Prayer underscores the need for prayer to be about God first,
then about you and me.
Notice: “Your name.” “Your kingdom come.” “Your will be done.” Then
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
Whatever the words you and I use when we pray, this is the repeatable
pattern that Jesus was talking about when He told His disciples to “Pray
like this.”
5. Prayer takes us into the presence of a holy God.
When we pray, you and I are literally entering into the most spectacular Throne
Room in the universe. This fact should shape everything about the way we
pray…but be careful not to be paralyzed.
a.
Sure enough, the Old Testament concept of God as recorded by the writer
to the Hebrews is plenty intimidating: “Let us be thankful, and so worship God
with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28b,29).
b.
Like a skilled defense lawyer, Jesus is our advocate. God hears our
prayer because Jesus has paved the way. He has already gone to His
Father—the perfect Judge—and pled our case. “We have one who speaks to the
Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1b).
c.
This awesome God surely deserves our worship. His presence does fill
us with speechless wonder. But, because of Jesus, when we step into this
throne room in prayer, He embraces us—sinful and repentant men and women
(Luke 15:20); He recognizes us as His children (Psalm 103:13); and He even
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offers us our own crown (2 Timothy 4:8). Can you imagine?
6. Over the centuries, much has been discussed regarding the correct physical position
when we pray. There is no specific recommendations in the Bible about this, but
there are many different ones described:
a.
Kneeling
This is a position of deep respect and humility. Many who came to Jesus knelt
down as an act of reverence, seeking His healing. His mercy. A father with an
epileptic son (Matthew 17:14,15), a leper who wanted to be healed (Mark 1:40),
the mother of James and John (Matthew 20:20).
In the book of Daniel, King Darius issued a decree that anyone who prays to to
any god other than himself will be thrown to his death in a den of lions. In quiet
defiance, one man disobeyed.
“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home
to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three
times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God,
just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10).
The Psalmist David must have also spent time on his knees in prayer. “Come
let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker” (Psalm
95:15).
b.
Lifting our hands
Although this position for prayer is often associated with a certain Protestant
denomination, the Apostle Paul instructs his young protégé Timothy with the
following: “I want men everywhere to life up holy hands in prayer, without
anger or disputing” (1 Timothy 2:8).
You and I have been to sports games where our team has just scored a
touchdown or hit a homerun and sunk a three-point shot to win the game.
Lifting our hands is a position of joyful praise. Sometimes it’s also appropriate
in prayer.
c.
Finding a place to pray in secret
Our lives are filled with noisy distractions. Everywhere we go there’s something
to listen to. Something to watch. Something with a battery. Something to
dodge or chase.
Jesus understood how these things could keep us from focusing on Him when
we pray so he said, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and
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pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done
in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).
7. God knows our hearts
As we saw in “Letters to God,” our prayers are addressed to God alone. This is an
intimate conversation. And even though our hearts are filled with awe at the chance
to speak with Him, God welcomes you and me as His beloved sons and daughters.
He is our “Papa.” Our “Daddy.”
The Apostle Paul writes about this clearly:
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you
received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba Father’” (Romans 8:15).
Because we are His children, he knows who we are. He made us, He loves us, and
He wants us to come to Him and speak with Him as a highly respected parent…just
as we are.
I. Why should I pray?
1. Prayer is commanded
The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, penned these words:
“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests”
(Ephesians 6:18a). He also wrote, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give
thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1
Thessalonians 5:16-18).
So serious is God about our need to pray that to not pray is to sin. Samuel the
prophet told his people, after they begged him to pray for God’s protection for
their asking for a human king (although they knew it was an offense to Him), “Far
be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you” (1
Samuel 13:23a).
2. Prayer insures that God will receive the glory He is due
Remember at the Last Supper when Jesus told his disciples that he will “do
whatever you ask in my name”? Why did Jesus say this? Was it so that the
twelve could now get whatever they wanted in order to live prosperous and
happy lives? No. He tells them immediately why he’s made this promise.
“…so that the Son may bring glory to the Father” (John 14:13).
Prayer isn’t primarily about getting what we want. Although God does care that
we have what we need—and he wants to bless us because we’ve prayed—his
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primary reason for answered prayer is to put his goodness, wisdom, power and
grace on display.
The eternal benefit of prayer is that it magnifies God’s glory. That is why we
know we will receive from him what is best for us and what glorifies Him most.10
3. Humble prayer results in answers
Way back in the Old Testament, the good king Hezekiah was stricken with a
terminal illness. We don’t know the nature of his sickness but the prophet Isaiah
came to Hezekiah and told him to put his house in order.
The king “turned his face to the wall” and prayed…and wept bitterly. Can you
see the humility and the brokenness of this man?
As Isaiah was leaving the presence of the king, the LORD spoke to him and told
him to return to the king with this message: “I have heard your prayer and seen
your tears; I will heal you” (2 Kings 20:5b).
James the Apostle echoed this when he wrote: “Confess your sins to each other
and prayer for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous
man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).
(James calls such a man whose prayers are answered “righteous.” However, the
Scripture makes it clear that our own righteousness is not enough to gain God’s
favor…“filthy rags” is that label Isaiah [64:6] pins to our goodness. Not a pretty
sight. But, through Jesus Christ and His atoning death on the cross, His
righteousness literally becomes ours. “…God will credit righteousness—for us
who believe in him, who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” [Romans 4:24].)
All along, the Lord had intended to heal Hezekiah. The King’s prayer didn’t twist
the arm of a reluctant God. But God’s will for the king’s healing—the answer to
Hezekiah’s prayer—included the expression of abject humility through his tears.
4. Prayer brings us into alignment with God’s plans
There’s no more poignant example of this than Jesus in the garden the night He
was betrayed. In His humanity, Jesus admitted twice His desire to have His own
way, but His prayer concluded with His submission to God’s plan: architectural
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but
as you will…My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I
drink it, may your will be done” (Matthew 26:39b, 42b).
10
From John MacArthur, “Lord, Teach Me to Pray” Copyright © 2003, Thomas Nelson Publishers, p. 22.
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5. Our prayers should be no less than this. God surely invites us to tell Him about
our deepest desires, but our conclusion must include our willingness for Him to
have His way. For His perfect plan to be accomplished. Our will is aligned with
His.
J. Why Not Write Your Own Letter to God?…“Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations” (A Letter to God from king David, Psalm 90:1).
1.
In the film, “Letters to God,” young Tyler discovers a powerful way to pray. In
simple, childlike faith, he writes out his prayers and confidently places them in the
mailbox. Like king David, he puts his words to God in writing.
Tyler’s real-life pastor, Dr. Andre’ Dugger, writes in his book, Prayer, Your Letter to
God:
“Although I’ve been a Christian since I was a teenager, and have written prayers in a
journal for some time, I had never thought of prayer as writing letters to God. But
when I learned about Tyler’s letters, it made perfect sense. After all, prayer is
communicating and expressing your heart to God. Who says it always has to be
done verbally? And when you stop and think about it, many of the Psalms are written
prayers to God. As I began writing out my prayers to God in the form of a letter, it
opened up an entirely new dimension to my prayer life.” 11
In the book, Dr. Dugger identifies the tangible benefits of writing your own letters to
God.
i.
A sharper focus on what you’re praying
We have all had the experience of getting distracted when we are praying.
What time is that meeting this afternoon? Did Johnny study enough last night
for his test? Boy, am I hungry!
Putting our prayers in writing almost completely eliminates these distractions.
ii.
A permanent record of your correspondence with God
You may not be an avid journaler…but the act of writing out your prayers will
start you on an amazing adventure of remembering God’s faithfulness as you
pray and as He answers.
iii.
A tangible reminder of your love for God
Do you remember when you first fell in love? You thought about this special
person constantly. And you looked for multiple, creative ways to express this
love. As you write your letters to God, you’ll find yourself writing words to your
11
Andre’ K. Dugger, “Prayer, Your Letter to God,” copyright 2010, Zondervan, p.__
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Heavenly Father that will remind you of how grateful you are for His love and
grace and blessings to you.
K. Summary
1.
Prayer takes us into the very presence of the God of the Universe.
2.
Jesus modeled prayer by making certain that we understand it’s first about Him
and then about us.
3.
Prayer is not meant to be a performance. It’s a time to be transparent before the
God who loves us and gave his life for us. We come to Him in humility and
repentance.
4.
God answers our prayer in a way that we are aligned with His plans.
L. Closing Prayer
•
Thank God for Prayer…the opportunity to approach His holy throne
•
Thank Him for the strength He will give us to pray more consistently—even to
write our prayers to Him—this week
•
Thank Him for His Love and Mercy and Grace and His blessings.
•
“We confess, we worship, we go.”
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Letters to God
Unwrapping Hope Sermon Series
Sermon #4: Unwrapping Faith
You Are God’s Warrior
(Show LtG clip of Samantha and Tyler visiting Samantha’s grandfather, Cornelius
Perryfield. Begin (~42:12) with “So you say they’re picking on you at school.” Conclude
(~45:39) with “I have an idea.”)
Hebrews 10:32-11:1 (11:6…faith is the door to God)
In the movie, Letters to God, young Tyler Doherty learns an important truth from his best
friend’s grandfather. Tyler has been chosen by God for a very special mission. Just like
the saints of old, this boy’s assignment is to be God’s warrior. By way of his profound
example his faith, Tyler’s job is to point them to God…
A. Faith…What is it and who needs it?
15. Faith—a familiar concept
a) You may be surprised at this notion…that faith is a familiar idea. But it is.
i) How many of you examined the ingredients of your coffee this morning before
drawing in that first satisfying sip, making certain that no one had added rat
poison?
ii) How many of you looked under the hood of your car today before you turned
the key, making certain that no one had wired an explosive device to your
starter?
iii) How many of you tested the chair/pew you’re sitting on right now before you
put your full weight on it?
iv) Of course, none of us did any of these [silly] things. We enjoyed our coffee,
drove to church, and plopped confidently down into our seats. Three simple
examples of faith.
b) But the kind of faith the Bible talks about is not having confidence in the
soundness of a structure or object. The faith that we learn about in Scripture is
about confidence and trust in a Person.
i) It’s more like your auto mechanic telling you that you really do need these
repairs on your car or your dentist assuring you that your tooth is cracked and
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really needs a crown. These are things that you may not be able to
absolutely verify…so you have faith in your mechanic and your dentist’s
judgments.
ii) It’s more like the promises you make to your bride that you will “love, honor,
and cherish.” That you will be “faithful until death do us part.” A promise that
you expect her to take at face value. “I will,” you say, “because I say I will.”
iii) Or believing your teenager when he or she tells you what they’re going to do
for the evening when you may never have a chance to verify.
iv) Suddenly “faith” has become abstract again. You feel a sense of uncertainty
creeping in, don’t you?
c) So when your Bible talks about faith, it’s referring to “having faith in Someone.”
The Bible’s kind of faith is about having confidence in God. Trusting that He can
be counted on.
i) This is faith that cannot be tested in a laboratory. This is faith that must be
experienced in the crucible of real-life experience.
ii) This is the kind of faith that is often tested through trials.
(Show clip from “Letters to God” that begins [approximately 1:04:22] with
Maddy on the couch with Olivia saying “I can’t lose him.” It ends
[approximately 1:06:08] with Maddy saying, “It’s not curing my son.”)
16. You and I understand what Maddy is saying, don’t we? We can identify with the
difficulty of trusting…of believing that God’s ways are always best. Of having
enough faith to…trust God…and wait.
a) It’s this kind of faith that God requires. It’s trusting Him regardless. Trusting Him
when we cannot understand what He’s doing. Clinging to Him when all else fails.
Waiting on Him.
b) It’s turning the difficulty of waiting and the challenge of facing the unknown into
confidence in God. The Bible defines this hard kind of faith clearly: “Now faith is
being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews
11:1).
The New King James Version says it this way: “Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Do you see it? Two powerful—concrete—words to describe something that
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people may consider as completely intangible…faith in an unseen God.
i) Substance: from two Greek words that mean a brace or support underneath a
structure. That’s a concept we understand.
ii) Evidence: meaning absolute proof or conviction. Certainty. Positive
identification.
c) Remember, these metaphors are not describing something that can be seen.
They are defining a faith that is built entirely on belief and trust in the unseen.
17. Faith cannot be mustered on our own, it must be received as a gift
a) One of the most often quoted Bible verses credited to the pen of the Apostle Paul
is from his letter to the Ephesian church: “For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God—not by
works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).
b) Do you see it? Both grace—God’s unmerited favor—and the faith to receive it for
ourselves, are gifts.
In the gospels, there’s a poignant story that helps us to see this truth. A father
brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus. “Take pity on us and help us,” the
man pleads.
“Everything is possible for him who believes,” Jesus says.
“I believe,” the father spontaneously replies. And then in a moment of
apprehension that you and I can fully understand, the man adds, “Help me
overcome my unbelief.” (from Mark 9)
18. From God’s perspective, faith is a non-negotiable
i) The writer to the Hebrews leaves no room for doubt: “Without faith it is
impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe
that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews
11:6).
ii) As followers of Christ, you and I must understand this requirement and
embrace it as our own.
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iii) Let’s consider the story of Abraham, like Tyler, Abraham was one of God’s
faithful warriors…[Read Hebrews 11:8-19] 12
B.
“My name’s Abraham and I’ll be your waiter”…That’s right; faith is about
waiting…waiting on God.
In our world, we know a lot about a lot of things, but we don’t know a lot about waiting.
We’re not very good at it. If the guy in front of us at a traffic light doesn’t move
immediately when it turns green, we toot our horn…not angrily (especially if our wife is
in the car), but impatiently.
We pace back and forth in front of our microwave or tap our fingers on our desk if our
computer takes too long to download a document.
Not long ago, letter writing was the primary mode of written communication. It took two
weeks to get a reply. Now if our friends don’t text us back in a matter of seconds, we
wonder why.
We are bad—really bad—at waiting.
So if faith is about waiting on God and we are terrible at waiting, no wonder we often
find it a challenge to live by faith.
But, for some, the idea of waiting may sound like laziness…sitting in an easy chair,
waiting for God to do something. Staring vacantly into the distance, hoping for
someone to tell us what to do.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Waiting is not passive, it’s active.
1. Faith is not standing still.
a. Living in Ur of the Chaldeans, God called out to Abraham, “Leave your country,
your people, and your father’s household and go to a land I will show you”
(Genesis 12:1).
Notice, the instructions were clear about what Abraham was to do…he was to
leave his country, his people, his father’s home and go. But where? And why?
Abraham is told to take action and wait for further instructions…to “go to a land I
will show you.”
12
Some concepts in this section were borrowed from Dr. James MacDonald’s preaching series on Hebrews
called “Step Up.” The whole series is available on WalkintheWord.com. Dr. MacDonald is the pastor of
Harvest Bible Chapel and the voice of the radio ministry of “Walk in the Word,” heard daily across North
America. This material is used with his permission.
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b. Living by faith, Abraham left safety and security and packed up, but he was
willing to wait on God for the reason. His heart was waiting but his feet were
moving.
Look at the action words in Hebrews 11:8-10…“obeyed, went, made his home,
looking forward.”
i. Waiting is not passive…it’s active.
(A) You may be praying for your neighbor’s sick child. Waiting on God means
reaching out to your neighbor and loving them.
(B) You may be praying for the salvation of a family member. Waiting on God
means loving them and looking for opportunities to tell them about the saving
grace of Jesus.
(C) You may be praying for a job. Waiting on God means combing the internet
and knocking on doors.
(D) You may be praying that God will give you a spouse. You desperately want
to be married…but you’re [still] single. Waiting on God means rolling up your
sleeves and serving…expanding your chances for finding a worthy person
who is rolling up his/her sleeves and serving. (Don’t you want a spouse who
gets this?)
(E) You may be praying for healing. Waiting on God means aggressively looking
for experts who can give you the best advice and counsel and treatment.
(F) You may be praying for a wayward son, asking God to get a hold of your boy.
Waiting on God may mean lovingly getting a hold of him yourself.
ii. Abraham was willing to wait on God, even if he didn’t get his answer until
heaven…“he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect
and builder was God” (v.10).
(You probably have your own story here, or…)
“I know of a man, a pioneer in Christian ministry, who was suffering from a
rare neurological disease. For several years, the diagnosis had been
Parkinsons…but this was a misdiagnosis and medications for that disease
had proven impotent. Year after year the frustration of uncertainty grew as
the man’s conditioned worsened. Late one night, after watching a television
program, this man asked his wife to ‘lay your hands on me and pray for my
healing,’ an uncommon request giving the man’s doctrinal background. Of
course, the woman prayed earnestly for God to heal her husband. The next
day the woman awoke to a man who clearly was on heaven’s threshold and
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in just a few more days, he was in ‘the city with a foundation, whose architect
and builder is God.’
“The Lord had graciously answered their prayer. The man had been healed.”
c. Oh, by the way…waiting for certain things is not necessary. We can have
them today.
We never need to wait for God to empower us with love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control. (Galatians 5:22)
These are already ours. No waiting is necessary.
d. So what we are actually waiting for is God’s promise for the future…this is
faith.
God’s promises to us are sure. He can be counted on to keep them. This is
faith.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer
grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater
worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved
genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is
revealed” (1 Peter 1:7,8).
Waiting on God refines you and me as precious metals are purified by the
furnace’s blast. Sometimes it’s anything but enjoyable, but the results are
certain.
2. Waiting is resting in God’s trustworthiness.
a. Read and study your Bible…learn about God’s past faithfulness
Rather than considering the physical odds of Sarah conceiving, Abraham trusted
God’s past faithfulness. “…[Abraham] considered [God] faithful who had made
the promise” (11:12).
Standing before the Sanhedrin, Stephen defended himself by recalling God’s
faithfulness to His chosen people, beginning with the story of Abraham (Acts 7).
Stephen had done his homework.
Our best reason for waiting with confidence is remembering what God has
already done in the past.
b. Looking at history through God’s lens instills confidence
This may be the first time you and I are going through what we’re going through.
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But this isn’t the first time for God.
Those who wait for God by faith rather than storming ahead and taking matters
into their own hands are always glad they did.
Any good defense lawyer will tell you that his best friend in court is good
information. Time and time again, our great God has proven that he can be
counted on. That His perfect will is always worth the wait. This is information
that gives us hope. It’s news we can use.
3. God’s love is a perfecting love, not a pampering love
Like a good parent, God sometimes withholds the good things we think we want in
exchange for the better things we need.
a. Great faith takes courage. Waiting is never easy…but it is required.
Many of the saints enshrined in Hebrews 11 never experienced the realization of
God’s promise, but they faithfully rested in it.
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive
the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance”
(11:13).
On the subject of the promises of God, Matthew Henry (1662-1714) wrote:
“They are a foundation of our faith, and we have them as such; and also of our
hope. On these we are to build all our expectations of God; and in all
temptations and trials we have them to rest our souls upon.”
b. Great faith endures testing. We must trust—even when we cannot see. This
makes us strong.
This is where our hope becomes real, where our faith muscles become strong.
The Apostle James describes this truth clearly.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking in anything” (James 1:2-4).
c. Trying to force God’s timetable never works
Because of their lack of faith and their impatience (after 15 years of waiting!),
Sarah encouraged Abraham to take their maidservant, Hagar, and to conceive
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with her.
This act of disobedience resulted in Sarah’s frustration and anger toward Hagar
and her newborn son, Ishmael. They were not willing to wait and this decision
caused great pain for millenniums to follow.
4. Faith is clinging, not to the promise but the Promiser
a. Abraham got attached to the evidence of the miracle rather than the Source of
the miracle. So God made sure that Abraham was trusting the Giver rather than
the gift.
“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who
had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even
though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be
reckoned’” (Hebrews 11:17,18).
Imagine the anxiety deep in Abraham’s soul. How could God ask him to sacrifice
the son of promise? Was it because Abraham was so taken with love for his
son—and who can blame him?—that for his father, Isaac was in danger of
becoming an idol?
But Abraham passed the test.
“’Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ the LORD said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I
know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your
only son’” (Genesis 22:12).
b.
The provision will be temporary, but the Provider never changes.
As difficult as may be for some to understand, even the precious gift of a son to
Abraham and Sarah—the answer to their prayers and dreams—was not worthy
to take God’s place. The miracle of a child born to very old people is not as
amazing as God’s presence and grace and never changing nature.
Several chapters later, the writer to the Hebrews cements this truth about God’s
eternal consistency. His changelessness.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
C. Summary
1.
What is faith?
Faith is not only defined in “spiritual” terms. You and I experience faith in
tangible things every day. But the Bible tells us that faith in certain things—the
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reliability of food we eat or chairs we sit in—is not the point at all. Faith is trusting
in someone to do what he says he will do.
And this trust can be a very serious thing. Sometimes we trust God to help us
find a good parking spot or that lost earring, but, as we saw in “Letters to God,”
Maddy’s faith was severely tested in a matter of life and death. You and I can
fully understand her doubts and fears.
2.
Faith, as well as God’s grace, is a gift to be received.
You and I cannot “muster up enough willpower” or “summon all the energy we
can collect” and have faith. Our prayer must be, “Lord, help my unbelief.”
3.
But, difficult as it may be sometimes, faith is not negotiable
The writer to the Hebrews tells us plainly that pleasing God is not possible
without faith. And who of us here this morning/evening wouldn’t agree that the
ultimate goal of our lives is to please Him?
So, for you and me, faith is a must.
4.
Faith is active, not passive
God called Abraham and told him to move to a new country. He didn’t know
where he was going—that was the faith part—but Abraham gathered his things
and moved anyway—that’s the active part. This story includes plenty of action
verbs…Abraham obeyed, went, made his home.
Reading further in Hebrews chapter 11, we see other examples of
action…waiting on God for the answer but choosing to do something in the
meantime. By faith…Isaac blessed, Jacob blessed, Joseph spoke, Moses’
parent hid him, Moses refused, the Israelites passed through the Red Sea.
Can you see it? Faith means action.
5.
But Faith requires waiting
As we’ve seen, waiting by faith is not standing still. Waiting by faith is holding
onto in God’s trustworthiness. He has kept His word in the past; He will keep His
word in the future. His love is a perfecting love, not a pampering love.
And faith teaches us to love the Giver more than the gift. As God’s very own,
children, trusting Him—by faith—will always be best.
6.
Finally…trials and difficulty inspire our faith. As hard as it may be to
say, it is in our struggle that we find strength to love God more deeply and trust
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Him to know and to do what is best.
(You may have a better concluding story than this one. Or…)
There was a farmer who had three sons, Jim, John and Sam. Except for an
occasional wedding or funeral, no one in this family ever stepped foot inside the
little country church tucked into a beautiful valley not far from their farm. None in
the family professed any faith whatsoever. The local minister and neighbors had
tried for years to interest them in the things of God, but to no avail.
Then one day, Sam was bitten by a large rattlesnake. The doctor was called in
and he did everything he could to help Sam, but the outlook for Sam’s recovery
was very dim. So the pastor was phoned and apprised of the situation. Very
quickly, the pastor arrived at the farmhouse and gathered the family together. He
prayed:
“O wise and righteous Father, we thank Thee that in Thine wisdom thou didst
send this rattlesnake to bite Sam. He has never been inside the church to
worship. And it is doubtful that he has, in all this time, ever prayed or even
acknowledged Thine existence. Now, Father, we trust that this tragedy will be a
valuable lesson for Sam and will lead him to repentance and his own experience
of faith in Thee.
“And now, O Father, wilt thou send another rattlesnake to bite Jim, and another
to bite John, and another really big one to bite the old man. For years we have
done everything we know to get them to turn to Thee, but all in vain. It seems,
therefore, that what all our combined efforts could not do, this rattlesnake has
done.
“So Lord, since the only thing that will do this family any eternal good is
rattlesnakes, we ask Thee to send us bigger and better rattlesnakes.
“Amen.”13
7.
Closing Prayer
•
Thank God for the gift of faith
•
Thank Him for trials that strengthen our faith and draw us closer
•
13
to Him
Thank Him for His gifts of Faith and Love and Mercy and
Grace…and His blessings
From James Hewitt, Illustrations Unlimited, copyright © 1988, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton,
Illinois, page 188.
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•
Page 47
“We confess, we worship, we go.”
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Letters to God
Unwrapping Hope Sermon Series
Sermon #5: Unwrapping the Church
A Great Place to Find Answers
(Show LtG clip of Brady, first at the bar when “Jack” suggests that he “take the letters to
church on Sunday.” Then Brady walking up to the church to drop off the letters. There he
meets Pastor Andy. Conclude the clip with Brady saying “Perfect.” Approximately 31:17 to
37:36)
Text: Matthew 16:13-19
In the movie, Letters to God, Brady McDaniels’ bartender suggests that he take Tyler’s
letters to God to church on Sunday. “Yeah, right” is Brady’s response…but the evening
walk home (since his car keys are back at the pub) takes him by…a church.
God works in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform,
He plants His footsteps on the sea and rides on every storm…14
A. The Church is God’s Idea
1.
A few weeks ago, in our message about Jesus, “Unwrapping the
Savior,” I mentioned Jesus’ conversation with his disciples at their Caesarea Philippi
retreat. Jesus had asked about the buzz…“Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
b) “Some say John the Baptist: others say Elijah, and still others, Jeremiah or
one of the prophets,” (Matthew 16:14) they said, hoping that these would
answer Jesus’ question. But if Jesus responded, to their answers, it’s not
recorded.
c) Instead, he turned the tables and asked them whom they though he was.
“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God’”
(16:16).
d) Jesus affirms Peter’s words and then for the first time in recorded history,
Jesus speaks the word “church”…“on this rock (the truth of Peter’s
statement) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not
overcome it” (16:18).
19. But I have a question for you. Was Jesus calling “the church” a collection of
believers or was he talking about buildings…church-houses…real estate?
14
William Cowper, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” written 1774, music Scottish Psalter, 1615
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I believe that the answer is a resounding “yes”. This morning/Today we will embrace
both.
B. Here Comes the Bride
After ___ years in the ministry and, I would guess _____ weddings—attending or
officiating—I have come to the following conclusion…
1.
Every bride is beautiful.
a.
This may sound strange to you, but there is something remarkable about the
moment the organ (or whatever music you choose to identify) swells and the
congregations stands. There, at the other end of the aisle is the bride…and
she’s stunning.
b.
Some of this beauty is, of course, because a lot of time has gone into this
moment…hairdressers, make-up specialists, and the most expensive dress she
has ever worn.
c.
But there’s more to it than these things. There’s an unmistakable radiance
about her. And this is a moment her daddy has held his breath about since the
first day he held her tiny, football-sized frame.
(You may have your own story here or…)
Here’s an account of one of those dads at this breathtaking moment:
“Organ music filled all available air space with remarkable glory. The
bridesmaids were making their slow march down the center aisle, one by one.
Our wedding coordinator was about to tell my daughter to put her hand on her
dad’s arm for the traditional escorting look. You know what I’m talking about.
That formal, take-his-arm thing they teach young, awkward boys and reluctant,
blushing girls at cotillion.
“Standing in the narthex at our church, I was close enough to my daughter that
the abundant fabric of her shimmering dress had swallowed my shoes. It looked
like I was standing in shin-deep snow.
“I turned to look at this woman next to me. Again. ‘You look just like I imagined
you would,’ I whispered. She smiled. In a few moments, I would obediently
extend my arm so Missy and I could strike the pose and begin our journey to the
altar.
“But for now, for just one more lingering second, I held her hand. This pose was
more familiar. More sweet. It’s what we did thousands of times going back to
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when we’d be crossing a busy street or walking along and going anywhere.
“She held my hand because it made her feel safe. I held her hand because it
made me feel whole.
“The church was filled with family and friends and well wishers. I scanned the
front. Like fence posts wearing bow ties, the groom and his men were standing
at full attention on the right. Black book in hand, the minister was in place at the
center, ready to deliver his prepared remarks. He would make the proceedings
official…“By the authority vested in me.” Like dolls on a conveyer belt, the
perfectly-spaced, bouquet-toting bridesmaids slowly glided forward.
“The bride and her daddy stood quietly, taking it all in.
“Holding hands.” 15
d.
2.
Every bride is prepared for this day…she’s ready
The Church is the Bride of Christ
a.
In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John sees a vision of the end
times…when Christ returns to gather His people and they worship before His
throne. This is the moment that the church has been waiting for. Listen to
John’s description.
“The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped
God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: "Amen, Hallelujah!" Then a
voice came from the throne, saying: "Praise our God, all you his servants, you
who fear him, both small and great!"
“Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters
and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty
reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the
Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and
clean, was given her to wear.’ Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are
those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”'” (Revelation 19:4-9
italics added)
b.
Do you see it? God is preparing His people like a bride’s friends ready her for
her wedding day.
What an interesting way to describe a group of people…young men, old men,
children, babies, strapping teenage boys, widows, orphans…and eligible young
women. We are, collectively the bride of Christ…the church. And the purpose of
our lives together is to allow God’s Holy Spirit to prepare us for the great
15
Robert Wolgemuth, She Still Calls Me Daddy, Copyright © 2009, Thomas Nelson Publishers, pages 1,2.
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wedding…when Christ returns as a bridegroom to gather his own.
c.
What does this bride’s preparation look like?
The book of Acts gives us a good idea of what the early church’s getting-readyfor-the-wedding assignments were.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the
breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many
wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were
together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods,
they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together
in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad
and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the
Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47)
i.
Apostles’ Teaching—This group of believers
submitted to Spirit-led, biblical preaching and instruction.
ii.
Fellowship—Jesus made it clear how his people
should treat each other. “My command is this,” he said. “Love one another
as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
iii.
Worship—Breaking bread (communion) and prayer
were essential ingredients in the collective experience of these people who
gathered together. And because of God’s power revealed through the
apostles, the people we’re filled with awe and wonder.
iv.
Generosity—“Having everything in common” and
“selling their possessions” speaks to the ability of these people to hold their
property with open hands, knowing that they were not owners of their things,
only stewards.16
d.
No bride would ever be cavalier about this preparation experience. She’s
getting ready to be married to the One she loves.
C. The Church—That Building on the Corner
But the church—the bride—is not only a collection of believers, preparing for their
Bridegroom. Scripture makes it clear that the church is also a building.
16
Some contend that this passage affirms communal living, even socialism…“From each according to his
ability, to each according to his need.” (Karl Marx, 1875) However, most biblical scholars agree that his
passage speaks to open-handed generosity and sensitivity to the needs—temporal and otherwise—of the
less fortunate. In point of fact, “selling their possessions” (and the text does not say, “selling all their
possessions”) would not be possible if all one’s possessions were put into a common pool.
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1. Sanctuaries for Worship
a. The building that stands guard over us this morning is at this moment, a
sanctuary…a church. (You may want to take a moment to talk about the
building where you’re meeting. Of course, it does not matter if it’s made of
rough-hewn logs with a thatched roof, a school building in suburbia, or a
stained-glass cathedral in a big city; because of what’s happening at this
moment, it’s a church.)
b. When Moses came down from the mountain after receiving the Ten
Commandments, the Lord God gave him an interesting assignment. Take
up an offering for a building, he said. Gather their gold, silver, and bronze.
Precious fabrics, oils, spices and jewels. It was history’s first capital
campaign.
“…have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.
Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will
show you” (Exodus 25:8).
c. Do you see it? God commanded his people to build a structure to
symbolize his presence. Of course, they knew that his Spirit wasn’t limited
to four walls—they had seen the pillars of fire and cloud—but the
tabernacle (and later, the temple) was a destination, a gathering place for
worship.
2. Storm Shelters to Protect
a. People who live along the coasts understand what it means to get ready
for a hurricane. People who live in the nation’s midsection, fully
understand bracing for a tornado. The place where they live shows up in
dark red on the Weather Channel and they know exactly what this means.
(Depending on where you live, you may have a personal story about this.)
b. When a hurricane or tornado is on its way, the authorities tell people to
flee to buildings at once…buildings strong enough to withstand
devastating winds. Usually school gymnasiums or other structures built
with concrete block are chosen.
c. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses an interesting word picture to
describe the consequences of a man who hears God’s word and puts
them into practice.
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into
practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came
down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house;
yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew
Unwrapping God
7:24,25).17
d. A man who puts his trust in God and obeys his word is a man who is like a
safe building. A storm shelter.
e. Of course, there are always some people who avoid the shelters and
weather the storms on their own. In spite of the news bulletins that plead,
“Evacuate your homes; find safe shelter,” these folks stubbornly ride out
the storm, and carnage, alone.
The same devastation can happen when people decide to ride out life
without the church…the physical property that houses his people.
i. “I can worship God from my fishing boat,” some say. “Actually, being
close to nature is better for me than being in church.”
ii. “Our lives are so frazzled,” others confess, “and a quiet weekend at
home is just the same as worship for our family.”
iii. Some people may stay away simply because of personal tastes: “Have
you heard the music they play? I can’t stand it!”
iv. Having raised a family and known the stress of frenetic schedules and
overburdened weekday commitments, I truly understand these
conclusions, these rationalizations for skipping church. But it’s
precisely because of the inevitable coming stress that we need the
storm shelter.
f. Not surprisingly, the Bible weighs in on the importance of showing up at
church this special dwelling place of God.
“Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but
encourage and warn each other” (Hebrews 10:25 NLT)
g. In “Letters to God,” when Brady’s bartender Jack sarcastically tells him to
take the letters to church on Sunday morning, he’s talking about delivering
Tyler’s letters to a building…a church house. And as it turns out—as we
saw this morning—Brady finds himself doing exactly that.
h. It’s as though this hapless mailman is experiencing his own catastrophic
event. A personal hurricane. A tornado in his soul. A storm shelter—a
17
You may or may not want to “chase this rabbit,” but it’s interesting that in the Caesarea Philippi
discourse, Jesus tells Peter that the truth that Peter had just spoken about his deity was “the rock” upon
which he would build his church. Like the illustration Jesus uses of the house in the storm, “the rock” is
used as the metaphor for the strength of the church’s foundation.
Page 53
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safe place—is exactly what he needs.
i.
Because God is here, this morning/today/this evening you and I are
meeting in a stress-tested building. This is the church. A storm shelter.
D. This Bride and This Building Are on a Mission for God
To add to the important metaphors of brides getting ready for their weddings and
storm shelters protecting God’s people, the church is something else…the
church is a steward of God’s truth and a servant to the lost and needy.
1.
A great place to find answers
When Pastor Andy invites Brady to come back to the church, he says, “This is
a great place to find answers.” The pastor underscores what Baron
Dadooska (Grandpa Perryfield) says to Tyler, “God is truth.”
a.
Whether a pastor/teacher is
robed, dressed in a suit, or wearing a golf shirt and flip-flops,
b.
There’s a movement afoot in
Christian circles that the institutional church may soon be replaced by
small informal groups that may be meeting in their local Starbucks instead
of becoming part of a body of believers in church.18
c.
Listen to what Ted Kluck writes.
“Will we sing hymns of praise to our God at Starbucks? Will we pray
together, for each other at Starbucks? Will we be exposed to consistent,
biblical, gospel-centered teaching at Starbucks? Perhaps, but I doubt
it…For myself, at least, I need the church. I need the structure of my
small-group meeting every other Tuesday or I would probably stop going.
I need my accountability with Cory every Monday…people are looking for
the truth and a means by which to worship and learn about the God they
claim to follow…church can, and still does, provide those means.”19
2.
A people, prepared for service
a.
18
19
An airport is a fascinating place
to me. The next time you fly, take a careful look at those giant, lumbering
airplanes, creeping from place to place at a snail’s pace. Notice their
disproportionately small wheels. What is the purpose of the airport?
George Barna, Revolution (Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale, 2005) p.114.
Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, Why We Still Love the Church (Chicago, Illinois: Moody, 2009) p.70.
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i.
The purpose of the airport
is to refuel and repair aircraft. It is not the ultimate destination of these
behemoths.
ii.
The purpose of the airport
is to prepare airplanes to do what they were created to do…charge
down the runways at breathtaking speeds…and to fly.
iii.
b.
This is the church.
As important as the role of
pastor/minister to be the teacher, his job is also to equip. Listen to these
words from the apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus:
“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to
be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's
people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until
we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”
(Ephesians 4:11-23).
c.
Do you see it? My task is not
simply to teach but to equip you for service. I do not have your proxy to do
the work of the church on my own. No my job is to teach you then turn
you loose to love and serve those in need.
i.
In the scene from “Letters
to God” that we saw this morning, Pastor Andy says, “We love that
family…we certainly keep them in our prayers and check on them often.”
(~35:30)
ii.
Notice that the pastor does
not say, “I keep them in my prayers and check on them often.” No he
uses the plural “we”.
iii.
The message of “Letters to
God” is the message of the Great Commission. Jesus said to his
disciples, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.
Therefore go…” (Matthew 28:18b,19a)
d.
This has been the role that the
church has played down through the centuries. Whether it’s the founding
of hospitals worldwide or the immediate response of believers in disaster
relief efforts, the church has always been there.
Listen to the words of a pastor.
Unwrapping God
“In my community, Christians staff the rescue mission and churches host
soup kitchens. The Christians around here take collections for food
pantries, personal needs banks, and furniture giveaways. Individual
churches offer cribs, car seats, teddy bears, books, budget counseling,
pots and pans, diapers, coats, and clothes…there are hospice programs
for the dying, centers for the aging, and agencies to help with adoption,
foster care, and refugee assistance—all run by Christians.” 20
e.
Does this mean that we’re doing
enough? No. Could our church be doing more? Yes, absolutely.
(This may be a terrific place for you to talk of about a special initiative that
your church is embracing like the “Sanctuaries of Hope” movement for
families challenged with the ravages of cancer…or another program in
your community.)
E. Summary
1. The church—this church…our church—is God’s idea
We are God’s unique idea to spread the message that “Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of the living God.”
2. We are the Bride of Christ
God is preparing us to be ready for his return. In the meantime we are to be
committed to biblical teaching, fellowship, worship and generosity.
3. We are to be faithful to this place…the church at ____(your address)____
Like the tabernacle of old, this place where we meet is a “sanctuary where
God dwells.” It’s a place for community, but it is also a place for refuge and
safety. A shelter in the time of storm.
4. We are to serve
Like airports, the goal of our church is not to celebrate our fueling process or
to boast about our maintenance programs or collect attendance records to
compare with other churches across town. Our goal is to prepare each other
to serve…to fly. May God grant that this be so.
5. Closing Prayer
20
Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, Why We Still Love the Church (Chicago, Illinois: Moody, 2009) p.43.
Page 56
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•
Thank God for the gift of faith
•
Thank Him for trials that strengthen our faith and draw us closer
•
•
to Him
Thank Him for His gifts of Faith and Love and Mercy and
Grace…and His blessings
We confess, we worship, we go.”
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Letters to God
Unwrapping Hope Sermon Series
Sermon #6: Unwrapping Hope and Eternity
I Just Want Everyone to Believe
(Show LtG clip of Maddy tucking Tyler in bed after the costume party. Time is ~1:16:30 to
1:18:29. Tyler wonders aloud if “babies are born to replace people who die. Maddy
answers, “Only God knows for sure how these things work.” The clip concludes with Tyler
telling his mother that God chose her to be his mother.)
Romans 5:1-5
Foreverlasting life
20. The Real Premise of “Letters to God”
1. When a movie script is submitted to a production company for their consideration, it
always includes a brief statement that summarizes the story. It’s a snapshot of what
the writer hopes will become a feature film.
2. “Letters to God” is a story about a boy named Tyler who is suffering from a rare form
of brain cancer, but the real premise of movie can be summarized by the subtitle:
“Hope is Contagious.”
a. “Hope” can be a confusing word. Some may think of it in the context of a preChristmas wish by a youngster whispered in Santa’s ear down at the mall…“I
sure hope I get that bicycle (or GameBoy or iPod).”
b. But the “hope” in “Hope is Contagious” is a different kind of hope altogether. It’s
a hope that Scripture clearly reveals to us.
i. Hope is Confidence
The hymn writer, Norman Clayton penned these words:
“My hope is in the Lord who gave himself for me,
And paid the price for all my sin at Calvary.”21
More than whistling in the wind, this hope is based on truth…hope in God’s
faithfulness. This was the hope that young Tyler embraced.
21
Norman J. Clayton, 1945
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ii. Hope is Family
In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul addressed the Gentiles. He tells
them that before they knew Christ, they were aliens and foreigners…without
hope.
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought
near through the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).
Hope brings with it brothers and sisters who by His act of grace are members
of God’s family. This was the hope that young Tyler experienced.
iii. Hope is the Promise of Heaven
Tyler’s last letter, the one we hear him read at the close of the movie…as
Samantha and the children put their letters to God in the special
mailbox…goes like this:
“Dear God: I think we did it. You told me not to be afraid, and I wasn’t. I just
want everybody to believe. Love Tyler.”
The young boy was not afraid because of heaven’s hope. The hope that was
his because of the resurrection.
Again, the words of the apostle Paul:
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or
to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died
and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who
have fallen asleep in him” (Ephesians 2:13,14).
This was the hope that young Tyler anticipated.
21. A Letter Addressed to Jesus
1. The earthly ministry of Jesus was winding down. He and His disciples had safely
escaped the murderous intentions of the Jewish leaders who took His claim to be
one with the Father as pure blasphemy.
2. Taking refuge beyond the Jordan River, perhaps 20 miles from Jerusalem, Jesus
and His disciples regroup. No doubt this was a time of confusion, restlessness for
the twelve.
“Now that Jesus has declared His Messiahship,” they may have whispered to each
other, “when is he going to put down the Roman oppression and set us free?”
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3. And then a hand-delivered letter arrives from Jesus’ friends, Martha and Mary. (This
Mary is the one who would anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive oil and wipe them
with her hair [John 12:3].)
4. Their brother, Lazarus, had taken ill and the message was simple and
straightforward. “Lord, the one you love is sick.” The word here implies that the
sickness is grave which gives Mary and Martha only one hope…Jesus. So they
send a letter to tell Him.
a. Notice, they don’t say any more.
b. They do not even ask Him to come to Bethany.
c. They simply give Jesus the news because they trust Him to know what to do.
Psalm 37 says it best:
“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this” (37:5).
5. And then Jesus says three things that must have confused—even astonished—the
disciples.
a. Lazarus may be very sick, Jesus would suggest to his disciples, but the end of
this story will not be about his death.
b. This illness—even if it’s terminal—will bring glory to God.
c. I love Mary and Martha and Lazarus, Jesus affirmed. Let’s wait for two days
before we travel to Bethany in order for these things to be fulfilled. God’s love is
not bordered by time. It is without a boundary of any kind.
6. The question that many people will raise when they see the movie, “Letters to God,”
will be this. “How is it that a kind young boy who loves God so purely would become
a victim of such a heinous disease? How could this happen?”
a. The answers to these questions have a familiar ring to them.
b. Tyler’s sickness will be for God’s glory. And, as you now know if you have seen
the film, it is exactly this. “Dear God, we did it,” Tyler writes this powerful
affirmation in his final letter.
In John, chapter 9, Jesus and His disciples encounter a man, blind from birth.
The disciples ask a question we all understand:
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind” (9:2)?
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c. Jesus’ surprising answer is the same one He gives those who question the
reason for Tyler’s—or their own—cancer.
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus. “But this happened so that
the work of God might be displayed in his life” (9:3).
d. God’s love for Tyler was not fenced in by time or space. His love for the boy
knew no limit.
7. Once Jesus had received the letter informing Him of Lazarus’ illness and had waited
for two days, He and His disciples made the journey to Bethany. Funerals in those
days often lasted an entire week and, depending on the prominence of the
deceased, crowds gathered to publicly mourn and to comfort the bereaved…and
each other. On the outskirts of town Martha runs to meet Jesus.
We see the conflict in her spirit between doubt and faith—despair and hope.
Something we all have experienced.
a. “If you had been here,” she whined, “my brother would not have died” (John
11:21). Doubt…despair.
b. “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask” (11:22).
Faith…hope.
22. The Hope of the Resurrection
1. Once Martha had expressed her doubt and her faith, Jesus makes a statement as
bold as any in the entire Bible.
“Your brother will rise again” (11:23).
a. Surely encouraged by Jesus response, Martha affirms what He has said. “I know
he will rise again…” (11:24a)
b. But she admits that she doesn’t understand His timing. “…in the resurrection at
the last day” (11:24b).
2. Then Jesus makes a statement—recorded only here—that splits history. A claim
that unequivocally separates Christianity from every other world religion. It defies
logic and scientific explanation.
“"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he
dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (11:25,26a).
3. And then Jesus adds a question for Martha that separates lost people from found
people. Desperate people from those filled with hope. Living people from dead
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people. It’s the most important question ever asked.
“Do you believe this” (11:26b)?
4. Martha’s answer needs no explanation. It’s as clear and concise as it needs to be.
This morning/Today/Tonight it’s the answer I would pray each of you would give.
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ,[b] the Son of God, who
was to come into the world" (11:27)
5. Soon Martha’s sister, Mary, came running. Her plea was a match to what Mary had
said earlier:
“"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (11:32b)
23. A Weeping Savior
a) At this moment, the story takes an interesting turn. As we have seen, there were
crowds gathered, mourning loudly. Jesus response is two-fold.
a. He is “deeply moved in spirit” (11:33b)
i. Jesus’ love and compassion for people is graphically revealed here.
ii. It’s no surprise to you and me that the grief these mourners were
experiencing tore at the heart of the Savior.
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
b. “…and troubled” (11:33b).
i. The original language gives us a hint at what Jesus was experiencing. The
text could also read, “Jesus troubled himself.” In other words, he didn’t
have to, but he allowed himself to be troubled. As God in human flesh, he
didn’t need to experience any emotion at all. But he dipped his heart into
the pain of the situation and “troubled himself.” (See Philippians 2)
ii. Some scholars contend that Jesus’ heart was being torn because death was
the consequence of sin. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, the Lord God’s
judgment was clear.
“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the
ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will
return" (Genesis 3:19).
As Jesus looked into the tear-streamed faces of the people whom he loved,
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he mourned the inevitable consequences of their sinfulness.
c. It is also interesting to me that the scene included skeptics…not unlike the chinstroking intellectuals that crowd much of academia today.
"Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from
dying" (11:37)?
24. “Lazarus, Come Out”
a) The scene now changes to the graveyard. Unlike those we visit today, this
graveyard was not marked with marble headstones, rather it included a cave.
b) Jesus takes charge. “Take away the stone,” he commands. (11:38)
i) After ___ years of ministry, I have received many desperate calls, some in the
middle of the night. Someone in the family has died.
ii) Like Tyler on his way to school in “Letters to God,” in those very difficult
situations, “I want to do what Jesus did.”
(1) First, he had great compassion for those who were grieving, and
(2) Second, he lovingly took charge.
Bereaved families are often like “sheep without a shepherd.” Understandably,
their grief has clouded their ability to think clearly, to plan the details of the
next few days.
Standing in the graveyard, Jesus must have identified some men, physically
capable of lifting a heavy stone from the mouth of the cave.
c) And then for the first time in history, a man (in this case, the God-man) commanded
a dead person to step out of a tomb and come to life.
It’s also important to note that Jesus called the man by name…”Lazarus, come out.”
If he had not done this, every grave in the cemetery would have been emptied of its
contents! 22
There are really three miracles recorded here.
i) Lazarus hears Jesus speak.
Think of it…a body that is cold and hard, a body that has no ability to taste or
22
Credit this wonderful insight to Dr. Charles Swindoll.
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touch, actually hears something. The first miracle is that Lazarus hears the
Savior’s words.
ii) A dead body comes to life.
Brain waves spike. A heart, black with hardened and lifeless blood jumps to life.
Collapsed blood vessels inflate to welcome the warm surge again. Frozen
muscles twitch then quiver then stretch and flex.
Lazarus crawls to his haunches then stands and takes in a gulp of air. His lungs
joyfully expand to accommodate the oxygen.
iii) The people unwrap the man.
Often lost in this story is what Jesus tells the onlookers, no doubt standing
aghast at what they had just seen. In fact, there’s some irony here than we
cannot miss. Here is the unthinkable miracle of resurrection. A man, dead for
days, is brought back to life by the voice of God. (The very voice that spoke
creation into existence. Colossians 1:15,16)
Could Jesus have also spoken the grave clothes from Lazarus’ body? Yes, of
course he could have. But the picture we have is of a newly-minted physical
form, standing at the mouth of a dead-man’s cave…looking very much like a
mummy.
“The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a
cloth around his face” (11:44a).
Instead of speaking Lazarus’ bandages from his body, Jesus issues one more
directive.
"Take off the grave clothes and let him go" (11:44b)
Jesus gives Lazarus family and friends the joy of sharing in the experience. The
delight of participating in the miracle of unwrapping the body of a brand new
creation.
25. A Few More Years for Lazarus, but Eternity in Heaven
a) The story from the Bible that we have just studied tells of a short visit to heaven for a
follower of Jesus.
i) Don’t you wonder what this story may have sounded like from Lazarus’
perspective?
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(1) He has become a resident of heaven, an eyewitness to the glory of God, a
homeowner of a mansion.
(2) And then, suddenly, he’s ripped from his new home to re-visit planet earth.
(3) Perhaps at dinner that night (prepared, of course, by the fastidious Mary),
Lazarus may have even expressed the joy of being with his family again, but
also expressing the conundrum of being temporarily removed from glory.
b) Welcome Home, Tyler
i) In the movie, Letters to God, when Tyler goes back to school, the teacher writes
on the board, “Welcome Back, Tyler.” Plenty of cause for celebration. The sign
at the costume party read, “Welcome Home, Tyler.” Both of these were exciting
events, but none of us can imagine the celebration that awaited Tyler…in
heaven.
The sign there may have read, “Well done, Tyler.”
ii) Someone has said that you and I do not live in the land of the living headed for
the land of the dying…no, we live in the land of the dying, looking forward to the
land of the living.
At the close of “Letters to God,” our young friend, Tyler, traveled to his final
home, reunited with his heavenly Father and his own daddy who had gone
before. And, unlike Lazarus, Tyler was not asked to return to planet earth for a
short visit, his home was permanent.
Eternal.
iii) In his second letter to the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul writes:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles
are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our
eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary,
but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
26. In the Meantime, You and I Are Letters to God
a) A letter (or an e-mail or a text message) is a tangible, visible message sent from one
person to another.
b) In this life, we have an opportunity to be a message—a letter—to God that others
can read. The final written message that you and saw at the close of “Letters to
God” reads like this:
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“You are a letter…written not with pen and ink but with the Spirit of the living God” (2
Corinthians 3:3).
c) Whether we are consciously aware of it or not, others look at our lives and carefully
“read them.” We have the opportunity to be clearly written correspondence…letters
of hope in this life and anticipation of eternity with our heavenly Father.
27. Summary
a) The message of “Letters to God” is simply this…hope—the kind of hope that eagerly
anticipates, that in spite of difficult circumstances believes—is contagious. When
you and I live with this hope, others cannot help but be affected.
b) The resurrection is the reason for this hope. When you and I were in school, we
learned of “if-then” statements. (These are also called “conditional” statements.)
Today we have learned about eternity’s most profound “if-then” statement. Here it
is:
If our hope is in the resurrection of Jesus and if Jesus told Martha that He was the
resurrection, then hope is a Person…Hope is Jesus.
c) Closing Prayer
•
Thank God for sending His Son…the hope of the world.
•
Thank Him for the promise of eternity with Him…the hope of eternity.
•
Ask Him for the strength to live the light of this hope.
•
We confess, we worship, we go.