anything genuine

I have never been one to take major changes very easily. Major transitions in my life have often caused me great distress. One such occasion stands out in my mind. I remember my heart pounding as I walked down the stairs on my way, and as we turned the corner I got my first glimpse of what was to come. As I looked down the long hallway, I could see faintly what was coming. And I was terrified. What I saw was a woman, and that woman’s name was Mrs. Birkhead, and she was my new kindergarten teacher. I must have been the last student to make it into the classroom that day, because I didn’t go easily. My mother tried to reassure me, but I did not believe her. And I was not going to let go of her! Mrs. Birkhead tried to take my hand and lead me into my new classroom, and what commenced was in my memory a violent tug of war with me in the middle screaming and crying hysterically. I simply would not accept the fact that things were changing, that I had no choice but to go forward into this new thing called “kindergarten.” I was terrified of the future.

The future means our lives changing, often in ways that we don’t expect or anticipate, and often in ways that we don’t welcome. Coming to terms with accepting changes and facing the future when it is out of our control is something that is difficult for many of us. There are those of you in this room who know what it’s like to face terrifying circumstances that you couldn’t control: a cancer diagnosis, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the loss of a relationship or even a marriage. Or maybe your fear of the future is based on the fact that there are things you can control—decisions that you have to make. Many young people face questions like: should I go to college? Where should I go to college? Should I get married? Who should I marry? What job should I take? What’s my “calling” in life? The stress of these questions has people living in the fear and anxiety of facing the future.

In Matthew 14, Jesus is commanding us place a radical trust in Him that will extinguish the fear we have of the future. You can know the Lordship of Christ in your life to such a degree that your relationship with Him transforms you at the very core of your heart so that you can live in the assurance and hope that He promises – a hope that is so great, it causes you to live in daily contentment and satisfaction, regardless of the winds and waves of life around you.

In this well-known story, the Holy Spirit is showing us some specific steps we can take to learn to trust in Christ whole-heartedly.

The first thing to notice is that the reason the disciples are so afraid in the midst of this unknown situation is because they fail to recognize Jesus.

At this point in the gospel of Matthew, the disciples have spent a lot of time getting to know who Jesus was. They have heard him preach the Sermon on the Mount. They have seen him heal lepers and cripples, cast out demons, and immediately prior to this account, they saw him feed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. They have even seen him calm a storm! They have been through this exact dilemma before! Yet, here they are, caught once again out on the sea in the midst of a storm, and they are terrified.

But look back at how the disciples have ended up here in the boat – Jesus told them to go. It says he “made them get into the boat and go before him.” They were being obedient. They were doing exactly what Jesus had instructed, indeed commanded, them to do. But their voyage was not without a storm. In the same way, we are not called to a Christian testimony that says, “Ever since the Lord saved me he’s blessed me every step of the way.” Instead, we are called to a testimony that says, “Ever since the Lord saved me he’s been using everything in my life to fulfill his purposes in me.” But the disciples don’t have that “long view” in this instance, and I think we can gain from their experience.

So, here they are, they’ve obeyed the Lord, they’ve gotten into the boat and started on the way to where he has told them to go, and almost immediately they are in the midst of a life-threatening situation. After everything they’ve seen and heard from him, once they’re in the middle of this storm it’s like it all goes out the door. “What are we going to do? This storm is going to kill us!” But, just like before, Jesus offers his presence to alleviate the situation. And he comes to them on the water. He walks to them on the water. They are in the middle of the sea! He came to them in the fourth watch, between 3 and 6 a.m. It has taken them most of the night to sail to where they are, and Jesus miraculously shows up there, walking on the water. And what do the disciples do? “Awesome, great, he’s here. Can you take care of this, please, like you did last time? That was really cool how you made the storm stop and everything.” No! That would have been even more respectful than what they actually do: they call him a ghost! And rather than take comfort and refuge in the fact that this man who they have already seen heal and feed and calm storms, they get even more afraid. They even cry out in fear!

How do you react when bad things happen to you or around you, or when you are unsure what the future might hold? The disciples were stuck on the sea in a storm, and they didn’t know what the outcome would be—this was a life-threatening situation. As believers, we are promised that Jesus will “never leave or forsake us.” We are promised that he is working “all things together for the good of those who are called according to his purpose.” Yet, too often we do exactly what the disciples did. Even though we say we believe that he is always with us, we don’t recognize or acknowledge his presence or his work in everything that happens to us. If we would decide to completely lean on what the Word of God has already told us, if we would believe it completely, and take a biblical view of God’s complete and total sovereignty, we would react much differently. If we really believed that God is in complete and total control of our lives, that not even a bird falls from the sky apart from his permission, we would be much more content. We have access to the peace that surpasses all understanding.

Horatio Spafford writes about that deep peace when, after losing three daughters to a horrific, fiery shipwreck, he writes the words, “Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well with my soul.’” My soul is at rest. I have peace! Why? Because he understood who God really is and what his relationship with Christ really meant and he applied that directly to his life, deep in his heart.

G.K. Chesterton said that to the unbeliever, sorrow is central and joy is peripheral, because the fundamental questions of life are unanswered; but to the Christian, joy is central and sorrow is peripheral, because the fundamental questions of life are answered. We no longer have to be tossed about by the waves of the sea, as the disciples in the boat were, wondering what will happen, fearful of what the future holds. For the unbeliever, the future, the unknown has that control over them. But for us as children of God, we know that he is in control, and he has commanded us to rest in him and live in peace because we can trust him. Jesus says, “Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid.” Do not be anxious. Don’t worry. Be joyful, be content, be at peace. Can you say, “When my daughters have perished in a violent shipwreck, it is well with me because I have a radical trust that God has a purpose in this.” What about when you don’t know what’s coming because of that diagnosis, or that spouse that walked out on you, or the job you lost, or that relationship you lost, or that difficult decision that will affect the direction of the rest of your life. Christ is offering you that radical peace. The gospel gives you that centrality of joy.

The second thing I want us to notice in this passage is that Peter has to get out of the boat before he sees the full extent of the Lord is doing.

Pastor and author Kevin DeYoung writes, “Too often God’s people tinker around with churches, jobs, and relationships, worrying that they haven’t found God’s perfect will for their lives. Or—even worse—they do absolutely nothing, stuck in a frustrated state of paralyzed indecision, waiting…waiting…waiting for clear, direct, unmistakable direction. But God doesn’t need to tell us what to do at each fork in the road. He’s already revealed his plan for our lives: to love him with our whole hearts, to obey his Word, and after that, to do what we like. No need for hocus-pocus. No reason to be directionally-challenged. Just do something.”

We often get paralyzed and become unwilling to get out of our boats. One thing that paralyzes us is fear. You can have the best intention of seeking God’s will yet miss the point completely if you are so timid and afraid that you refuse to make a decision until you know for certain that everything will turn out fine. Imagine taking Peter’s first step out onto the water. I’m sure that just like you and I, he had never, ever seen anyone walk on water. He had seen water. He had probably been in the water before. He was familiar with the physical properties of the water, and he knew that you can’t walk on it! But his first step in trusting Christ was to follow, to do what he knew the Lord had told him to do, and step out on faith. Like Peter, we have God’s Word of direction for our lives, and we can rest assured that as long as we are using the Bible as the rule and guide to our decision making, we have the freedom to step out into the unknown, knowing that God will lead us.

Something else that paralyzes us is perfectionism. As a musician I can easily understand this. If you have ever been a part of any performance, a play, or program, or concert, you know about the hours of preparation that take place before the presentation is made to an audience. That’s because most artistically inclined people tend to be perfectionists. The adage “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right” transforms into “if we’re going to do it at all, we’re going to do it perfectly.” I had a choir director like that once. He was an incredible musician. He trained with the most talented choral conductors in the country. He had the most incredible ear I have encountered: he could hear the slightest imperfection in the sound of the choir and identify it and fix it. And being in his rehearsal was an incredible learning process. But I noticed something when I stood in my first performance with that choir: we were all terrified because there was a sense that we really didn’t know our music! How could such a talented and skilled conductor lead us to a place where we were so uncertain about what we were performing? How could all the singers feel like we really hadn’t made a lot of progress? Because we had become paralyzed by perfectionism. Our director had gotten so caught up in fixing all of the minute details and making sure that every little nuance was exactly right that in the big picture we really hadn’t come that far.

Many young people are plagued by this kind of perfectionism when it comes to the possibility of marriage. So many singles live in constant discontentment because they are seeking for “the one.” It seems like everyone in my generation has “the list.” I’m going to marry someone who fits my checklist. For us, marriage is a very specific way we can see the consequences of perfectionism. We have created this unrealistic—but worse, unbiblical—view of marriage that it is the key to our fulfillment and happiness in life, so we have to place all of these perfectionist expectations on our future spouse. Starting from this kind of ideal, should we really be surprised at the epidemic we are dealing with as a society over divorce? Instead of stressing the importance of choosing a spouse wisely, but then making a lifetime commitment to that person, we have elevated this idea that God will lead us to the right person to an unbiblical extreme, to the extent that now there are even cases in which Christians will justify divorce on the grounds of “misunderstanding God’s will.” We have become unfulfilled because the first thing we are striving for is fulfillment.

One of the reasons we even have this very idea of “seeking God’s will for our lives” in contemporary Christianity is because we are searching for perfect fulfillment from any number of “things” in our lives. Again Kevin DeYoung writes, “If you think that God has promised this world will a five-star hotel, you will be miserable as you live through the normal struggles of life. But if you remember that God promised we would be pilgrims and this world may feel more like a desert or even a prison, you might find your life surprisingly happy. Faith in Jesus does not guarantee that everything will go our way.” We can’t wait for the perfect circumstances, or the perfect outcome, to act, to get on with living our lives for his glory.

God has called us to run with endurance “the race that is set before us,” not the race we would like to have before us, or the race that is set before someone else. Being obedient does not mean waiting until everything is just right. Obedience is accepting in faith the race that God has placed before you, because nothing is before you that is outside his will or apart from his permission.

So you say, “Okay, I’m supposed to be doing something and making decisions. Does that mean that no matter what I do everything will be okay?” Because sometimes, we make foolish decisions that seem to derail our lives, even when we thought we were following God’s will. The Bible teaches us to take the initiative to learn to make wise decisions: decisions that are tried and weighed and guided in the light of objective truth. Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” In his recent writing on biblical decision-making, Stuart Scott warns against making decisions by subjective means. He writes, “Making decisions by subjective means will usually result in disappointment or even disaster. We must be sure that our way of deciding what to do is not based on former ways that God used to deal with His people, on our imaginations, on something that seems miraculous, or on our own selfish desires.” He offers an excellent, yet convicting, list of subjective means that we should avoid or be cautious of, including:

- misusing or misquoting the Bible, asking for God to “give us a word” to confirm a specific question or decision;

- assuming that you can understand what God wants you to do by interpreting certain results, or what the circumstances “seem to say”;

- imposing conditions on God for direction;

- the “open/closed door” mentality of interpreting opportunities or the lack of opportunities as God speaking;

- interpreting inner feelings or impressions from within as the “voice” of God or perhaps even hearing or expecting to hear an audible voice from God;

- misusing prayer in believing that you can receive some sort of message from God through prayer;

- and finally, seeking “inner peace,” or interpreting a sense of peace or an unrest in your soul as direction from God. Inner peace will never come from circumstances!

Your decision-making process cannot be focused on your feelings and fleshly desires, but it must be saturated with the knowledge of Scripture and the discernment of the Spirit that comes through earnest and humble prayer.

Maybe you aren’t paralyzed by fear or perfection, but you have been chasing after God’s will in one or more of these ungodly and unbiblical ways. Have you reduced the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-governing creator God of the universe to a magic 8-ball in your life? Instead of taking the time to study his Word faithfully and intentionally to know him, do you pray, “Lord, just show me what I’m supposed to do? Lord, just lead, guide, and direct me. Lord, just show me who I’m supposed to marry. Lord, just tell me if I should take this job. Lord, just give me peace about this relationship.” Instead of searching for something new or specific to obey, obey what he has already told you. Instead of chasing after all of these subjective, humanistic ways to discern God’s will, believe what the Bible says about the way God wants us to know him and act. As you face the tough decisions yet to come in your life, as you face the tough circumstances that God has placed before you, will you be paralyzed by fear or perfectionism, or will you trust in God’s faithfulness so you can get on with living your life, not in hopes of perfect fulfillment or happiness, but for the sole purpose of glorifying Christ by responding to his call and getting out of the boat? If you believe in the God whose perfect will cannot be missed, cannot be changed, cannot be escaped, and cannot be improved, then making decisions—doing something—is trusting him.

Finally, notice a third step that we can see in this story to developing a complete trust in God. When Peter has finally recognized who Jesus is, that he truly is present in the storm, when he has responded to Jesus’ call to get out of the boat and come, he has an incredible opportunity to witness the power of God at work. And for a moment he does. Can you imagine what that must have felt like to feel the water under your feet, and step by step make your way toward Jesus? But even the magnitude of that experience isn’t enough to prevent Peter from committing yet another tragic mistake: he succumbs to doubt. The last thing we need to see here is that in order to live in complete trust in God, we have to actively fight against doubt. This is essentially the capstone to what we have seen in the rest of the passage. Fighting this temptation to doubt will seal our commitment and our resolve to trust God with our whole hearts. Fighting against doubt will help us stamp out the last semblances of fear and anxiety so we can face the future circumstances of our lives with peace and contentment. Look at what happens to Peter: even though he has experienced the miracle of walking on water, even though he sees and knows that Jesus is there with him, when he answers the call to come and gets out of the boat, the wind and waves are still there. The reality is that God doesn’t call us to circumstances in which the temptation to doubt, worry, fear, and second guess won’t exist, and we can’t live as though we are seeking after those perfect, free-from-worry circumstances as a sign that we are doing God’s will. The Bible admonishes us to flee from worry, anxiety, and doubt. If those were never challenges we were meant to face while we were doing God’s will, those commands wouldn’t be so explicit. It is up to us as part of our response to God’s call to put off doubt, worry, and fear, and put on peace, contentment and trust.

And the good news is that we aren’t left powerless to experience this transformation. We are given the ability to take the initiative in changing our hearts through the power of the gospel. If you are a believer, then you should have a testimony that says, “I have been changed by the power of Christ in my life.” Whether or not you have a dramatic testimony of circumstances, the Holy Spirit’s transformation of your soul, calling you from spiritual death into life, by the same power through which Christ was raised from physical death into life, has changed you. If you haven’t experienced that transformation, perhaps the Holy Spirit is working in your heart. The gospel of Jesus Christ can deliver you from the fear and anxiety that you are enslaved to and give you an everlasting hope, if you simply respond to the Spirit by confessing Jesus as Lord of your life, as the one whose will controls every detail of your life, repent from your sins and submit to following his Word and his will.

As we look forward to the new year, we will all face many challenges, many questions, many decisions, and trials. Will you hold on as tightly as you can to the former ways of worry and doubt, screaming and crying in fear at what the future might hold, or will you put your trust in God through Christ, experiencing the peace he brings, and step into the future the way he intends you to, boldly testifying to his faithfulness and calling others to the same joy that you have through the assurance that eternity is settled? Will you face the future without fear because you know the true and living God, that he is all-knowing and all-good, and that you know without a doubt that he has a plan and a purpose for your life?

As the Christmas season rapidly approaches, we are reminded all around us of the spirit of the season, and we often hear the timeless proverb, “It is better to give than to receive.” I have a friend who, every year, feels it is her responsibility to remind the entire world not to forget about Thanksgiving. After the costumes and candy have left the store shelves (and sometimes even before!), the commercial world is immediately overtaken by the sights, sounds, colors, and products of Christmas. While we all enjoy the food and fellowship (and time off from school) that Thanksgiving brings, perhaps we don’t always recognize its significance in the full scope of the year.

In the tradition of Christian worship, we give our offerings as an act of worship in response to our thankfulness for Christ’s sacrifice for us. Author Grace Noll Crowell captures this sentiment wonderfully in the first line of her hymn, “Because I have been given much, I, too, must give.” The spirit of Thanksgiving should spur us on into the spirit of giving we associate with Christmas.

In Matthew 2, we read about the visit of wise men from the east that followed a star to come and worship the Christ child. The scripture says, “…they fell down and worshiped him.” These wise men were not Jewish—they had no stake in the historical religious tradition of Jesus and His coming; and, it is speculated they didn’t even really have a full understanding of His divinity. Jesus was only a child: not yet a teacher, not yet a prophet, not yet the once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world. Yet, they came—foreigners, perhaps even quasi-pagans—and brought gifts to offer in worship to the Lord. In a special Christmas text to his popular song, “Offering,” songwriter and worship leader Paul Baloche reminds us of the meaning of our worship:

Over the skies of Bethlehem appeared a star
While angels sang to lowly shepherds.
Three Wisemen seeking truth, they traveled from afar
Hoping to find the child from heaven.
Falling on their knees, they bow before the humble Prince of Peace.

We bring an offering of worship to our King;
No one on earth deserves the praises that we sing.
Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due.
O Lord, I bring an offering to you.

The sun cannot compare to the glory of your love.
There is no shadow in your presence.
No mortal man would dare to stand before your throne,
Before the Holy One of heaven.
It's only by Your blood, It's only through Your mercy, Lord, I come.

anything genuine

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Thursday, November 05, 2009

Scripture Meditation - Psalm 37:23-25

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