Allen Jackson - Against All Odds - Part 2
So I think we all have that question within us: Do I really matter? Our culture is hammering at us now. I mean, it pounds us. You know, they keep introducing all these trends and fads through social media to do bizarre things like eat a Tide pod. I mean, I like the colors and the texture might even be interesting. It looks like a teething ring we used to give to children, but who looked at the laundry detergent and thought, "Hm, lunch"? And the fact that you had a friend that would do that, what would entice you to do that? There's a lot of pressure in that and the trends change day to day.
I'm sure the one I have is several years old. But what is within us is we wanna be significant. We wanna matter. We want somebody to say, "Oh, I recognize you". There's something unique there. It's why we're so susceptible to things around style and fashion. Again, not wrong, not evil. It's all an expression of that desire within us. God understands that and what I would like you to believe, I want you to imagine that Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth, knows you. He knows your name. He created you with certain gifts and abilities. He keeps a hair count. The Bible says when a sparrow falls to the ground, God attends the funeral. I don't believe that's metaphorical. I believe God knows when a bird falls to the ground.
So I believe God knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts. I believe he knows us. I believe that attaches a significance to you that is impossible for me to describe with the language skills that I have. That the one who said, "Light be," and the lights came on knows your name and says, "I have a purpose for your life". That's just stunning to me. You really do matter and it doesn't matter how many voices or how loud the voices or how profound the voices that say to you, "You don't have that gift," or "You don't have that skill".
Now, we have a problem because sometimes we want gifts and skills we don't have. I wanted to be about 6'7 with an inordinate amount of lean muscle mass, very low body fat, and phenomenal athletic gifts. And God made this, and you laughed, in church. I forgive you. And we all have to grapple with that. There's something within us and I don't believe it originates with God that makes us dissatisfied with who we are and what we have and where we are. And then that begins to ramp into justifications and excuses for why we can compromise, but the reality is God has said you're significant: every human life, the dignity of every human life, the sanctity of every human life. It's why we stand for the unborn. It's why we stand for the elderly. It's why we stand for those whose voices are small and weak, because every human life is significant.
Yours is not excluded from that. Following Jesus is not just obedience to ten commandments. It's following the truth of God, wherever it leads you. You see, we have mistakenly imagined that the struggle of following Jesus is trying to stay out of immorality. Don't lie, cheat, or steal. The truth is the struggle of following Jesus is saying yes when the path of truth is painful. We will all say yes to Jesus if he's leading us to Dairy Queen. Whoo, let's go. But if he's leading us to the gym, I rebuke you, and please understand God invites us to things that are not always easy. Easy believers in amongst the people of God is far too prevalent. Convenient faith, comfortable faith, childish faith. We know this.
So this Memorial Day weekend, let's establish that we're going to follow Jesus into the challenges of this season. We're gonna stop acting like we don't notice. We're gonna stop saying, "Well, I know right and wrong, but that would be difficult". We're gonna follow. Peter and his crew walked away from their business. They ended up giving their lives for this Jesus fellow. You're gonna meet them one day. Are you really gonna say to them, "I just didn't like volunteering"? There's a second thing that happened to Tabgha. It was the restoration of Peter. Peter was the disciple that when Jesus said to his friends just before his passion is to begin, he said, "You're all going to betray me".
Peter chimes in, as was his pattern, and said, "Oh, not me. The rest of these clowns, I agree with you. I think they're a little inconsistent, but I will never deny you". And Jesus said, "Peter, I prayed for you. The devil has asked to sift you like wheat". That should give every one of us pause. That the devil has an intent to sift us, to disrupt us. If he can't completely stop you, he'll try to delay you. If he can't cause you to capitulate to his invitations, he'll try to cause you to be so frustrated with God's timeline that you'll stop giving your best. He is evil. He exploits our vulnerabilities. He takes advantage. He is evil. Please don't be confused. Evil exists and it stands between you and God's best.
The invitation of the New Testament is to not be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good. We wanna act like evil doesn't exist. "Well, I don't understand why things got more difficult when I decided to serve the Lord". Because when you were serving the devil there was no game plan for you. You were already working on all the right things, the things that would lead you to destruction. When you began to be awakened and say, "I think maybe I should serve the Lord," you thought, "Oh wow, this is harder than I thought". Yeah, have you read the Gospels? The incarnate Son of God came to seek and save those who were lost.
If anybody was gonna get, like, an easy ride, you think it would be that one, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, my Son, with whom I'm well pleased. He was betrayed, mocked, spat upon, beaten, tortured. Peter famously says, "I will never deny you". And then three times that night, publicly with profanity, denies the Lord. When the rooster crow is signaling the morning is arriving, Peter remembers what Jesus has said and he's a broken man. And the grace of Jesus, post resurrection, he has a private conversation with Peter on the shores of Galilee. Peter's in the one place that's most comfortable for him.
You know, I've learned that under stress, you'll tend to go to the places that are most comfortable. When I left home to go to college, I went several hundred miles away, the most comfortable place for me was on a basketball court, because I knew my strengths and weaknesses in that environment. In the classroom, it wasn't so clear yet. Peter's gone fishing and Jesus shows up and he says, "Peter, do you love me"? "Lord, you know I do". He asked him three times. The third time, Peter's finally offended. He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know I love you". And Jesus said, "Feed my sheep". He gives him a life assignment.
Peter spent the rest of his days strengthening the body of Christ. The New Testament scholars suggest that Peter, it was the strength of Peter's character that enabled the church in Jerusalem to survive in those very early years when there was so much pressure. He would not relent. God sent him to Caesarea so the non-Jews could receive the Holy Spirit just like they had in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost. And it took the force of Peter's character to come back to Jerusalem and say "This was God". They were angry. "You went into the home of the Gentiles, the Romans". "Yes, I did, and God did for them, what he's done for us".
Peter had an important role to play. But he found that role in the midst of very public failure. I think there's a question that's a part of every one of our journeys from time to time. May not be yours today, but it's been yours. Is there a way out of the place where I am? Are my failures fatal? Am I in a hole so deep that I'm destined to stay in the pit? It's an important question. In Psalm 147 in verse 2, is a remarkable promise from the Psalmist. It says: "The Lord builds up Jerusalem; and He gathers the outcasts of Israel". The outcasts, not the heroes; the outcasts, the refuse, the leftovers, the unwanted, those that have been disciplined. "He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted And he binds up their wounds".
God is in the business of healing the brokenhearted. I've had my heart broken a few times. I know what it is to be left on the scrap heap, to be told that whatever value there may have been that was attached to you is gone. And you were relegated to a permanent second class at best. When the only place I had to turn was God. And I have felt the mercy and the kindness of God. It changed my life. It changed the way I looked at God's people. Before, my life flew into pieces. I thought if you did the right thing, good things would come to you, and if you did the wrong thing, bad things would come to you.
So when I saw people struggling, I thought, "I wonder what they did," until my life blew apart and I needed mercy and there weren't a lot of merciful people around me because I had not been a merciful person. And as the Lord led me through that season, I made a commitment to him that I would show mercy to people. The church is not a hall of fame, folks. We're not in this building because we've got it all figured out. The church is a hospital. We've gathered here because we desperately understand we need help. That's not an excuse for sloppiness. And you and I should both understand that forgiveness from God does not mean the elimination of all consequences. That's bad theology.
To be forgiven doesn't mean all the consequences for your ungodly acts are swept away. God restored the Jewish people to the city of Jerusalem, but they had to walk through an exile. I brought you one example. It's in Deuteronomy 3, Moses is in the story. He's a hero in the Bible. In fact, he's a hero almost without peer. Until you get to Jesus, Moses is the greatest leader in the Bible. But Moses wasn't perfect even after he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, after he's held out a staff and the Red Sea parted, after he's called water from a rock. After he's come down the mountain with ten commandments. He spent so much time with God, his face glowed in the dark. Anybody here? Moses had to wear a veil because it intimidated people.
How many of you live with somebody and you've had to say to them, "Listen, you are so godly could you just put on a veil? The glow is troubling me". Nah, I didn't think so. Kathy has never asked me to put on a veil. But in Deuteronomy 3, verse 26, it says: "Because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me", this is what Moses said... God said this to Moses: "That's enough. Don't speak to me any more about this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah". It's a mountain on the other side of the Jordan River, on the other side of the Promised Land. "And you can look in all the directions. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you're not going to cross the Jordan".
God said to Moses, "You didn't do what I asked you to do on that day, and you will not go into the Promised Land". Are you hearing that? And Moses talked to God about it. He talked to God, face to face. He talked to God about it enough that finally God said, "Don't ever bring it up again. I will show you the Promised Land, but you're not going in". Folks, we have not lived with that perspective on our faith. We've imagined we could do almost anything and we can kind of glibly say to God, "Ha, ha, ha, ha. I'm kind of sorry," and all the consequences will just evaporate like something lost in the cloud. God's a God of restoration. He can restore our lives. He can write us a new story. He's the author and the completer of our lives.
But please don't imagine that when you choose ungodliness, when you are willful, stubborn, disobedient, when you practice ungodliness, that the consequences won't find you. I'll give you Hebrews 11 because it's an important, this is a New Testament commentary on Moses. Hebrews 11 is hall of fame. These are the heroes. These are the people who got their busts in the museum. And it says of Moses: "By faith Moses, when he'd grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward".
Moses did a lot of really, really, really good things, difficult things, heavy lifts. You understand, he walked away from the pleasure of the palace. He chose to be mistreated with God's people. He refused cancel culture. He said, "I'll tell the truth". Did a lot of really good things. But for the thing where he was disobedient, God said, "There's a consequence for that. Stop talking to me about it". I tell you that because I care about you. I mean, we're in this together and we need a motivation to give God our best. What we have been given has motivated us for some really sloppy living.
What's our motivation for the self-discipline to serve the Lord, to say No to ungodliness and Yes to godliness? And we got some really high volume in us going, "Go for it". What enables us to turn that volume down and say, "I will choose to honor the Lord"? Reverent fear. Folks, you're not gonna play God. I don't mean you're gonna pretend to be God. I mean, you're not gonna hustle him. You're not gonna give him a look and a wink and a smile and he'll just melt. He made you. He understands. Look at Hebrews 11:7, same idea, a little different perspective. It says, "Noah, when warned about things not yet seen," what was he warned about?
A lot of water. Says: "In holy fear built an ark to save his family". The motivation to build that was this reverent fear. God's judgment is coming and he's shown me a way to avoid it, but the way to avoid the judgment is gonna take everything I have. I'll have to liquidate all my assets. I'll have to cancel all my contracts. I'll have to disrupt everything about my life. I'll be a laughing stock. I'll be mocked. There'll be nobody in my peer group. My kids will think I'm nuts. They're not gonna like the assignment either. Are you ready to serve the Lord that way? We choose churches based on friends.
Parents say to me, "We're changing churches because my child's girlfriend..." Look, I'm not battling for participants. I'm listening to the motivations we have for alignment of our spiritual lives. "Well, my kids will be happier". Oh, there's the barometer. We've been coached into this sloppy flippant casual if there is a God and I believe there is and if he's the judge of all the earth and I believe he is, we wanna begin to bring everything within us to bear on walking uprightly before him. "Well, Pastor, you don't earn..." No, I'm not suggesting you earn anything. I'm suggesting the most prudent move is to walk uprightly before him.
"Well, he's a God of grace". Oh, he's also a God of justice. Ask Moses. Ask the people who lived in Noah's neighborhood, if you can find them. I wanna pray. I wanna give you an invitation. I brought you a prayer. It's a good prayer. But I don't wanna read that one with you. If I just wanted to give religious lectures, I would have stayed in the university. The hours are better and I could have had tenure. So the point of a worship service to me is decisions. Not single decisions.
I understand we all imagine it's the place you would come to accept the Lord. And I don't think that's wrong, but that's by no means the sum of the decisions that need to be made at church. Some of you today need to say No to ungodliness. You've been saying Yes. Some of you today have been sidelined because you're overwhelmed with the sense that you're not significant. It's a lie. It may be that your resume or your family circumstances are not something celebrated broadly, but you're known in the halls of heaven and quite candidly if the Lord knows me and is pleased, so I want to invite you to that today. Some of you need restoration. You started with momentum and you lost it. It's not unusual. It happened to the whole Galatian church.
Paul said, "What has happened to you? You were running such a good race and you've lost all your momentum". Still a church. Made the New Testament, but they needed restoration. I could give you another two or three. But if you're in a place today and you're conscious that you need better alignment with the Lord, if it's repentance, if it's to receive the value he has for you, whatever it may be, I'm just gonna ask you to stand real quickly. Whichever room, if you're at home, you stand with me at home. I can see right through the lens. No, I can't. But the Lord can. I know it's impolite to look around the church. I don't know why it's impolite, but I was taught that was impolite. But look around just a moment. Ninety-eight percent of us have stood because we know we need God's help. Let's pray:
Father, thank you for your Word, for its truth and power and authority. I thank you for your great love for us or for the investments you have made that we could be included in your kingdom. Father, it's beyond our understanding but we thank you for it today and we readily and freely acknowledge Jesus as Lord of our lives. We come in humility to repent of all those times and places where we've been casual and indifferent, when we've been silent, when perhaps we could have used our voice, when we've chosen ungodliness, not out of confusion, but out of rebellion. Forgive us of our sin. Forgive us of our indifference. Forgive us of our casual attitudes.
Lord, we pause to forgive those who sinned against us, to release that anger and bitterness and resentment today. We don't wanna carry it past this holiday. We wanna leave it at the foot of the cross today. You've forgiven us and now we forgive those others. I thank you for it. Lord, I pray for those amongst us who have been sidelined by the challenges or the road has been difficult and the load has been heavy and they've arrived at a conclusion that they just don't matter enough. And your timing has seemed impervious.
Lord, I pray for them today that they would know your great love for them, your value that you've attached to their lives. May they be more aware of Jesus and who he is than the places where they feel incomplete. I thank you that in Christ, you've given us everything we need for life in godliness this day. We praise you for it. And Lord, some of us need restoration. We've had momentum and we've had a love for you, and a passion for you and an enthusiasm for you. But Lord, it's grown quiet and still. We have other passions. And we come today to say, we love you. We love you. We wanna honor you with our lives, we wanna give you our best. We want to lead lives that are characterized by reverent fear.
I thank you for it. I praise you for it, for your power in this place, for your Spirit amongst us. Holy Spirit, we give you permission today. Bring to mind those that we need to forgive, bring to mind those places where we have chosen and we need to repent. Begin to instill within us an awareness of Jesus's love, his power, his person, that will enable us to lead triumphant lives in this season. That against all odds, we might be a display of the triumphant power of the God we serve. In Jesus's name, amen.
Lord, we pause to forgive those who sinned against us, to release that anger and bitterness and resentment today. We don't wanna carry it past this holiday. We wanna leave it at the foot of the cross today. You've forgiven us and now we forgive those others. I thank you for it. Lord, I pray for those amongst us who have been sidelined by the challenges or the road has been difficult and the load has been heavy and they've arrived at a conclusion that they just don't matter enough. And your timing has seemed impervious.
Lord, I pray for them today that they would know your great love for them, your value that you've attached to their lives. May they be more aware of Jesus and who he is than the places where they feel incomplete. I thank you that in Christ, you've given us everything we need for life in godliness this day. We praise you for it. And Lord, some of us need restoration. We've had momentum and we've had a love for you, and a passion for you and an enthusiasm for you. But Lord, it's grown quiet and still. We have other passions. And we come today to say, we love you. We love you. We wanna honor you with our lives, we wanna give you our best. We want to lead lives that are characterized by reverent fear.
I thank you for it. I praise you for it, for your power in this place, for your Spirit amongst us. Holy Spirit, we give you permission today. Bring to mind those that we need to forgive, bring to mind those places where we have chosen and we need to repent. Begin to instill within us an awareness of Jesus's love, his power, his person, that will enable us to lead triumphant lives in this season. That against all odds, we might be a display of the triumphant power of the God we serve. In Jesus's name, amen.