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FATAL DISTRACTIONS – THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS

Gluttony

Mac Richard

March 9, 1997

You know, every now and then in this world things just kind of come together in the right way, at the right time, for the right reasons.  Then we experience something that is plainly and simply just right.  The summer before my junior year in college, I got to experience a moment like this.  I was visiting with a friend in Houston, where I was working during the summer.  I said that I needed to go to Austin to find a roommate and a place to live for the coming semester.  Over the course of the conversation, I learned that she had friends in Austin who had a home situated outside the city that they were trying to sell.  Since they had moved back into town, they wanted someone to live in their other home, to keep it clean and prepared for the realtors who would be showing it.  I thought that might work out, no rent.  But then it could be really inconvenient with people dropping by unannounced to look at the home.  However, I investigated a little further and found out that this was a $500,000 home situated on the banks of Lake Austin.

Now I didn’t graduate first in my class, but I saw a real opportunity to serve here.  So I called the couple and told them that because of the love Jesus has for me and I have for them, I would be there for you.  And sure enough, I moved into this house rent-free.  If it gets any sweeter than that, I don’t want to know about it.  And when I moved in, I did it all.  I cleaned cobwebs out of corners.  I swept porches.  I mopped floors.  I cleaned toilets.  The place was both spic and span.  It was spotless.

But after about six or eight weeks into the semester I realized that no one was coming by to look at the house.  I had seen a realtor once or twice.  One person had left a business card tacked to the doorframe when I wasn’t there.  But no one was looking at the house.  This was Austin in the mid 80s and $500,000 lake homes were not exactly flying off the shelves.  So as midterms rolled around and then Thanksgiving came, I started to get busy.  I got a little distracted from the maintenance and upkeep of the house.  It was still very presentable, but it was neither spic nor span as it had been earlier in the semester.

One day, during the middle of finals, the owner and his wife showed up at the door unannounced.  At first blush, I thought that they had some nerve, that they could have called first.  But then I remembered it was their house.  They kind of began to inspect the house.  The husband told me he appreciated what I was doing in the house and yard.  He asked, however, if I could take care of one corner, straighten up a room or two and organize some other items.  Then they left.

Several days later I got a call from him.  He told me that they were not sure what they were going to do with the house.  They were giving consideration to moving back into it.  Maybe they would take it off the market, but at any rate, they would be spending more time in the house.  So he asked me to find another place to live.  I told him it would be no problem, that I had some friends who were looking for a roommate and that I could move in with them.  I did put two and two together and it struck me that I had blown an incredible opportunity.  You see, when he came by and checked out the house, he had been disappointed at the state in which he found it.  So I had to move out of a free lake house because I hadn’t taken care of it.

This morning, as we take up the issue of gluttony, as we continue this series on the seven deadly sins, that house stands as a perfect representation of my body and your body in God’s economy.  You see, our bodies are given to us free and clear of charge.  It is not like we are born into this world and then at age 18 we receive an invoice.  God says that your body is a gift and that all it will cost you is the upkeep and the maintenance.

This morning we are going to deal with the issue of gluttony, the sin of gluttony.  Now before we take one step further, I know that there are some of you here this morning who are sitting here very smug.  Your jean size is 32 inches at the waist.  Your dress size is 4.  And you are thinking to yourself that you should be in prayer for those who are here this morning struggling with gluttony, that you have a real heart for them and will lift them up to the Lord.

Before you get too cocky, let me share with you what the ancient church fathers decided following their research into the word “gluttony.”  It is the sin of excess, specifically as it relates to food.  But anything that is too much, too expensive, too early, too eagerly eaten is gluttony.  In other words, it is any faulty focus on food.  So whether you weigh 110 pounds or 410 pounds does not necessarily indict nor no-bill you for the sin of gluttony.  Rather, gluttony is not an issue of fit versus fat.  It is a hint regarding the state of the heart.

Gluttony is something that goes to the core of who we are as people in God’s economy in relationship to a holy, blameless, transcendent God who has given us this body to take care of while we live here on this earth.  It is imperative that we understand that before we take another step.

So if you are sitting there this morning and you feel convicted or guilty before we even begin because you are a little over your prescribed weigh, trust me about something.  The person sitting next to you, who could be an incredible physical specimen, could be just as guilty of this sin.  As Stan said earlier, this is something that affects all of us from A to Z.  We all understand the friendship that we can have with food.

Now, I want to continue the image of the house that I began with.  We are going to identify four facets of housekeeping.  To do this we are gong to start with two foundational truths that God gives us in His word.  1 Corinthians 6:12: “Everything is permissible for me but not everything is beneficial.”  Paul is saying that anything is permissible for him but that he won’t be mastered by anything.  Foundational truth number one is that food needs to be healthful.  He is saying that this is an issue of freedom.  Right off the bat we need to understand that this is not about chicken fried steak versus tofu.  This is about helping our bodies be everything that God wants them to be.

1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God?”  Foundational truth number two is that, for you and I in the context of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, our bodies are the houses of the Holy Spirit.

Now given that, let’s attack these four facets.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “You are not your own.  You were bought by a price.”  The first facet is that you and I have to identify the ownership of the house.  What that means is that we have to come clean before a holy, transcendent God and say that we do not belong to ourselves.  I recognize that I am not in control and I relinquish ownership to you.  You are the one who gave me this body.  You are the one who created me with a purpose and therefore I give everything that I am and everything that I ever will be over to You.  It is the issue of control.

Psychiatrists tell us that control is actually at the root of the vast majority of all eating disorders.  It is not so much about what our bodies look like visually.  But it is a person’s desperate attempt to assert control over a life when he or she feels out of control.

I want to read some questions to you real quickly.  Please do not answer yes or no, raise your hand or shout, “Amen!”  Do you look forward to events primarily because of the food that will be there?  Do you constantly think about food?  Do you eat when you are mad, bored, or stressed?  Do you eat to comfort yourself during times of crisis and tension?  Do you lie to others about how much or when you eat?  Do you stash away food for yourself?  Are you ever ashamed about how much or what you have eaten?  Are you embarrassed by your physical appearance?  Have important people in your life expressed concern about your eating habits?  Do you sometimes think your eating is out of control?

Now I am not a clinical psychiatrist, but I have done enough research to tell you that if you answered yes to four or more of these questions, you are a prime candidate as someone who has a serious control issue in the area of food that you need to deal with.

Thursday of last week the U.S. government released some alarming statistics.  One out of three American adults is overweight.  One out of eight American children and teenagers are overweight.  Ninety to ninety-five percent of all eating disorder victims are female and a vast majority of them are overachievers.  Between the years 1980 and 1994, the percentage of children that were overweight or obese rose 6%.  In that same time period, the percentage of adults rose 9%.

Despite the advent of Fit TV, Jenny Craig, and a fitness industry that rakes in over 10 billion dollars a year in this country alone, we are still making desperate attempts at control in our lives.  Folks, we can’t do it.  I can’t do it.  You can’t do it.  We must relinquish ownership of this house, our bodies, to the God who created us.  The issue of control.

Once that issue is dealt with, we are ready to move on to the second.  We have to identify the purposes of the house.  Now every house is built uniquely and differently.  Some homes are built to be show places.  Others are merely shacks of shelter.  But most fall somewhere in between.  To illustrate this I want to do something a little bit out of the norm.  Lisa, would you come here for just a minute.  Lisa, tell us how much you weigh.  I’m just kidding.  Okay, Lisa, how tall are you?  Five foot two.  Stan, would you please come here for a moment?  Now, some homes are show places and others are shacks for shelter, but you can tell honestly by looking at these two people that every body is built differently.  God gave Lisa a body that was intended for different purposes than the one He gave Stan.

Stan is a minister of music that defies logic.  Stan has got athletic abilities that most ministers of music don’t even care about.  Stan cares deeply.  But everybody is unique which you can see by this visual illustration.  I was not created to carry the mass of Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Ladies, most of you were not built and created to carry the figure of a Kathy Ireland or a Rebecca Romaine.  It is not going to happen.  You have to identify the purposes for which a holy and all-knowing God built your body.

This is what Paul says about the purposes for our bodies.  Remember, we have established the fact that we are not our own but bought with a price.  1 Corinthians 6:20, “Therefore, honor God with your body.”  Whether God intended you to be a minister of music and media, an accountant, an attorney, a physician, a teacher, a ditch digger, whatever God’s call is on your life, honor God with your body.  That is your purpose.

Now, as we continue in this message, I begin to wade in some barracuda waters.  This is where I start to create enemies.  Some of you in the crowd will start crossing my wife, Julie, and me off your invite to dinner lists.  But remember, our goal this morning is a faith-driven focus on food.  Our God is a God of balance.  It is not our desire that you walk out of here this morning freaked out and hepped up on seaweed and unsalted sunflower seeds.  God wants you to have a balanced perspective on your body and how to treat it.  In order to do that, we need to take the next step in this process.  We need to identify the condition of the house.

This is tough work, folks.  It requires honesty, brutal honesty, many times.  And to do this, we are not talking about just the aesthetic, 10 pounds overweight, a little under weight, need more muscle.  I am not talking about only the aesthetic.  We have to identify not only the appearance, but more importantly, the structure underneath the appearance.  Why am I in the shape that I am in?  Why are you in the shape that you are in?  You see, this is not about aesthetics solely.  Paul understood that in Verse 12 when he said that he would be mastered by nothing.  He understood that this is a spiritual issue, an issue of freedom.

Many of you here this morning are fettered to a fitness routine.  You are chained up and if you miss a day working out, you have severe self-image problems.  God doesn’t want that for you.  Others of you here this morning are chained to your refrigerator and that is your best friend in the world.  God doesn’t want that for you either.  We have got to step back and identify the condition of our house.  To do that I want to mention to you three contributing factors to the condition of your house and mine.

Number one is a chemical imbalance.  That is a very real situation for many people in this world who suffer from obesity or being overweight or even being underweight.  Researchers tell us that roughly 10% of those persons have a chemical imbalance of one kind or another.  The second contributing factor is childhood bad habits.  How many of you grew up members of the clean plate club?  If you didn’t clean you plate, you didn’t get up from the table.  Parents, let me urge you as I urge myself, understand the leadership responsibility you have in your home to establish positive, Christ-centered patterns for food in the lives of your children.

Most parents would be appalled, shocked, angry and upset to hear profanity spewing out of their children’s mouths.  Yet when they sit in front of Nintendo for hour after hour popping Coke after Coke, candy after candy, you think, “Isn’t that cute?  He just likes candy.”  Well, the reality is, it is not cute.  You are helping them to set patterns that will affect them and scar them for years after you are dead and gone.  You owe it to your children to take a leadership role in establishing positive patterns for food in your home.  You don’t have to be freaked out about it and post the number of calories that your child consumed on the refrigerator.  Just set a godly, balanced pattern for them.

But the third contributing factor is the one that hits most of us very close to home.  It is that emotional lift that we get from food.  It is the sensation of suddenly and instantaneously feeling better.  You can have a disagreement with your spouse.  You can have a stress filled day at the office.  You can experience the breakup of a dating relationship.  But you can always, always show a half gallon of ice cream who is boss.  The refrigerator doesn’t yell back at you.  The refrigerator is always there for you, ready to be opened or closed.  When that little light comes on, it is very reassuring for most of us.

There is an emotional lift that we get from food and many, many of us turn food into an emotional Band-Aid to cover over a gaping wound that we have suffered at the hands of another person, maybe a parent, maybe a spouse, maybe someone at work.  At that time, food becomes our god.  At that point, we try to let food soothe our wounds.  But Jesus Christ comes to you as He comes to me and says, “I want to be the One to heal your hurt.  I want to be the one to fill that hole in your life.  I want to be the one who covers up that void.  This food is a quick fix, a substitute, a counterfeit for My love, My grace, and My forgiveness.”

We have laughed a bit this morning, but this is a very serious subject.  Some of you know exactly what I am talking about.  You may not even have the emotional hurt pinpointed in your life.  My plea to you this morning is to do something about it and get help.  There is not a single one of us in this room this morning that if you walked out on MacArthur Boulevard and got hit by a car breaking your leg would jump up and decide that you should run it off.  You wouldn’t do that.  You would lie in the street wailing until someone picked you up and carted you to the hospital so your bone could be set to heal properly.

Folks, our emotions are not so different from our bones.  When you are hurt and scared and broken emotionally, many, many times it takes help to get healing.  And when I am talking about help, I am not talking about the latest self-help guru or the late night infomercial.  I am not talking about a comfort group.  I am talking about Christ-centered counseling from somebody who understands how the human psyche and emotions work, but who also understands the truth of God’s scripture and can integrate the two to help you heal.

Now, this process of identifying the condition of the house is without a doubt the most difficult.  For many of you it will be the most painful part of this process.  But once that is accomplished, the next step that had seemed so impossible suddenly seems quite doable.  It is this step in which we address the needs of the house.  You do something about the condition that you found yourself in.  For some of us it is just simple maintenance, a little upkeep.  For others of us, we need to start from scratch.  But the first step in this process is to hire a new groundskeeper.

Remember the story that I related to you at the beginning of this message?  I was relieved of my duties as the groundskeeper of the lake home.  Many of you need to relieve yourselves of the duty as groundskeeper of your own house.  Allow God’s Holy Spirit to come on board full time in your life, to water and fertilize your self-discipline, to trim the weeds of rationalization or legalism.  But you need to hire that new groundskeeper and allow God to do the work in your life concerning your body.

Secondly, you need to recruit a support team.  Put people around you who can help you, who can give you feedback.  They need to be people you trust, people who love you and with whom you can pray.  And just as a brief aside, unless you have got a unique, through-the-roof marriage, it probably doesn’t need to include your spouse.  This is a very sensitive issue and many times spouses end up doing more damage than good.

Now the next two steps are board-brush general steps that most of us can apply and benefit from.  I do encourage checking with a nutritionist since each one of us has unique nutritional needs.  Eat healthy.  Now, for some of you I realize that I just used profanity in your presence.  But eating healthy is an acquired taste.  How many of you loved coffee the very first time you tried it?  Yet most of us here this morning had a cup before church.  Structure your time and discipline yourself to eat that healthy food for a period of time at least until you acquire a taste or at least a tolerance for it.

And the fourth, practice occasional fasting.  Again, check with a physician before you do this.  But when we fast, that proves to us and to God that we are not bound by food.  If you don’t eat for 24 hours, just drink water and a little bit of juice, the sun will still come up the next day in the east.  I promise.  Fast a little bit.  It is an amazing discipline that will also enhance your prayer life.  Every time you feel a pang of hunger, pray.  Pray for that need that is on your heart.  Pray for that area of your life that you are allowing God’s Holy Spirit to work in.  But address the needs of the house.

We have talked a lot about houses this morning.  I want to leave you with one thought.  As I drive around the Metroplex, it is not difficult to encounter houses that cost hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars.  They have beautiful, meticulously manicured lawns and are expensively decorated.  They are incredible houses.  But I am continually struck by the thought of how many of those houses are actually homes founded on Jesus Christ, structured with His love, powered by His Holy Spirit.  How many of them are actually homes?

You see, God is definitely concerned with my body and with your body; but He is so much more intimately and vitally concerned with whether or not we create a home for His Holy Spirit.  He wants His Holy Spirit to live and breathe and work in our lives and ultimately work through our lives.  Most of us will never bear the title Mr. or Ms. Universe.  It is not going to happen.  But every single one of us has the potential to carry a much more significant title: Home for a Holy God.

EXPOSING THE ENEMY

Part 2

Ed Young

February 16, 1992

During my freshman year at Florida State University, our basketball team made it all the way to the semi-final game of the Mid-East Regional NCAA Basketball Championships.  We were playing against the University of Kentucky.  They were rated fifth in the nation.  We were rated about 15^th at the time.  It was the biggest game of my life, but to be honest with you, I was not that nervous because I had not played in the last 15 games.  I had sat on the bench, but in the locker room, you could cut the tension, the pressure, with a knife—the pre-game jitters.  But I went ahead and got dressed for the game, I had my ankles taped, put on our custom-made uniforms with the Nike shoes with “Noles” on the back, Seminoles.  (Nike did that for us.  I was very happy about that.)

I remember as I was dressing I looked across the locker room at a gentleman named Greg Collinsworth, who was my college roommate, and I noticed Greg did not put on his uniform.  He was stripped down to his boxer shorts and he put on his warm-up suit over his boxer shorts.  He had dress socks on…put his shoes on with the dress socks.  I said, “Greg, what are you doing?”  He said, “I’m mad at the coaches, Ed.  They haven’t played us in the last 15 games.”  I said, “Greg, we could get in the game.  Four guys could get hurt or something.  We might play.  Dick Enberg’s there, Billy Packer…this could be our chance.”  He goes, “I’m not even gonna dress out.  I’m sick of the coaches.”  I said, “Greg, come on.  Take the boxer shorts off.”

So, he goes out and we warm up and everything and I thank the Lord no one did get hurt and we were not able to play, but I remember thinking as a very naive 18 year-old, “Why in the world would a scholarship athlete who is preparing to play the most important game of his life or even sit on the bench not even dress out, not even use the equipment that was available for him to use and I just was dumbfounded.

You know what?  God has called all of us into the game of life.  We are in a struggle.  Life is not a playground; it’s a battleground.  And God says, “Get into the game.”  But if the truth were known, ladies and gentlemen, most of us who go by the label of “Christians” are in our spiritual boxer shorts when we’re out trying to fight the battles that God has for us.  We’re partially clad.  Because the Word of God says that He has provided equipment for us, custom-made, tailor-made equipment called “the armor of God” that He wants us to put on and God says (this is great news) when we put it on, He will give us the strength, the power, the discernment to use it to defend ourselves against Satan.

Today, I’m in a three-part series entitled, “Exposing the Enemy.”  Last week, we looked at Satan, his strategy, his methodology for all of our lives.  We saw that Satan is like a lion.  We also examined that Satan was like a serpent, that Satan blinds us, that Satan is second in power behind the Lord.  So, alone, we’re no match for Satan.  There’s no way we can muster up enough strength, enough mental toughness, to do battle with this particular evil force.  Now, some of you who are skeptical are saying, “Well, I’m not sure I even believe in Satan,” or “Why spend so much time talking about an evil being when we could talk about God’s love, His forgiveness, His grace?”  But we must expose the enemy and we must put on the full equipment that God has provided for us.

How do we do it?  Well, the answer is found in the book of Ephesians, Chapter 6 and we’ll look at Verses 10-15.  So, take your Bibles and turn and look at Ephesians, Chapter 6, Verses 10-15.  Now, the Apostle Paul is giving all the believers a pre-game talk.  He’s in the locker room and he stands up and he gives us four specific commands about the enemy in relation to the equipment he wants us to use to defend ourselves from the enemy when we play the game.  Paul said, “I’m tired of you being spiritual streakers…of being spiritually nude,” and here’s what he tells us.  The first command in Verse 10, he said, “Be strong.”  The second command in Verse 11, he says, “Put on.”  The third command, Verse 13, he says, “Take up,” and then the fourth command, in Verse 14 says, “Stand firm.”

Look at Verse 10 with me very briefly.  Paul says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”  That’s a very comforting word, isn’t it?  A very encouraging word.  Be strong in the Lord.  And I’ve seen so many Christians, well-meaning Christians, walk up to someone who is depressed, or someone who is hurting and say, “Christ is the answer.  It’s God’s way.  Rely on Him.”  All those words are great words.  They’re excellent phrases, but how?  Christ is the answer, how?  The Bible says, “Be strong in the Lord,” “Rely on the strength of His might.”

How do we do that?  Verse 11 answers that question for us because Verse 11 in Ephesians, Chapter 6 tells us to “put on the full armor of God.”  You see, it’s our responsibility.  It’s not our armor; it’s God’s armor.  It’s available for all of us.  But, we try to become like toddlers, a lot of us.  We say, “God, dress me.  I can’t get dressed by myself.  Dress me, God.”  But God says, “I’m giving you a freedom of choice and one of the beauties of being a created being is we have freedom.  God doesn’t force us to love Him or love someone else.  We choose that.  And He tells us, “I have this custom-made, tailor-made equipment for you.  It’ll give you everything you need to do battle, to defend yourself against the evil one.  Put it on!”

Are you the type of person, though, who just examines the spiritual wardrobe?  “Boy, God, that’s a nice-looking jacket, nice shoes.  I bet those would work real well.”

I have a friend of mine that I fish with.  He’s from Houston.  His name is John Marksdale and John is into equipment.  This guy loves equipment so much!  When we go fishing, he’ll have five or six graphite boron rods with the reels and the new line and about six or seven new tackle boxes and he’s at the docket saying, “Ed, this lure works in a lily pad, now this lure is a crank bait.  It goes down and this is the hottest new thing from Bagda.  Have you seen this?  And he usually goes on and on and on.  And I usually say, “John, I’ll see you later.”  I’m in the boat.  I’m off fishing, but he’s still at the dock.  “Look at this.  Unbelievable.  I can’t believe it.”

I thought about believers.  We think, “Look at this equipment; it’s great.  Yeah, I can put it on.  I’ll stand here….”  But God does not just want us to “put it on,” He wants us to take it up and to use it.  So Verse 11, another command.  We’ve got to put on the “full armor” of God, not some of it, but the full armor of God, that you might be able to stand firm against the schemes.”  The word “schemes” in the Greek, “methodios,” we get the word “methods” from.

Satan, the evil one, has methods.  He has play book books.  He has gadget plays for all of our lives; and these plays have worked for thousands and thousands of years to totally tear us down, to get us to settle for something second in our life, to get us away from God’s Plan.  Because we’re fighting the “Spiritual Mafia.”

Satan is a defeated foe.  Christ defeated him at the cross.  We’re not fighting for victory, we’re fighting from victory.  But Satan does not like us to know that he’s been defeated.  He doesn’t like us to know that we’re fighting from victory and he’s the accuser, he’s the tempter, he’s the deceiver.  And he whispers lie after lie after lie to us.  But his whole agenda is “to steal, to kill, and destroy.”  And one of his favorite things to do is to get someone to kind of laugh and say, “Satan’s not real.  Come on, I’ve never seen someone with a pitchfork and a nice goatee and horns, or a person who looks like Lurch on the Addams Family say, ‘I am Satan, I’m here to attack you.’  I’ve never seen that.  I don’t even see this person.”  But as we examine and expose the enemy, it brings fear to our lives because he is unseen.  He attacks out of nowhere.  But the Word of God tells us if we put on the full armor of God, in Verse 13, if we take it up, we’ll be able to resist in the evil day and we’ll be able to stand firm.

But look at Verse 12.  We talked about this last week, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” and the word “struggle” is a wrestling term.  Paul was into athletics, the WWF type.  Understand that it’s a struggle, but the struggle is unseen.  It’s in the heavenlies.  So the struggle takes place in places that we can’t see, but it takes place in the heavenlies and you say, “Well, how does this affect me?”  Because when I know Christ, my relationship goes all the way to the heavenlies so we are part of that fallout.  We are part of that battle.

Satan’s trying to mug us.  He’s trying to steal from us.  He’s trying to rob us of the blessings that God has given us.  He does not want you, he does not want me, to put on the equipment that God has provided.  So Verse 13 says we’re to take it up, we’re to use it.  Verse 14, the final command in the locker room, Paul says, “Stand firm,” and this term is used three times–stand firm.  It’s like the hymn we used to sing, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”  So, we’ve got to stand on Christ.

Four commands.  I’ve often wondered, “Why did Paul compare the Christian life to a battle and why did he talk about the armor of God.”  As I researched the book of Ephesians, most scholars believe that the Apostle Paul was chained to a Roman officer when he penned these words, inspired by the Holy Spirit.  So he looked at this Roman officer’s uniform, his armor, and thought, “Hey, that relates to the Christian life!”

Folks, you’re in for a special treat this morning.  You’re not going to believe what we are going to do for you in the next 10 minutes.  Due to modern-day technology, we have in this arts center an authentic Roman soldier.  But not only that, this Roman soldier, before our very eyes, will clothe himself in the armor of God, in the tailor-made equipment that God has for him.  Would you like to see this Roman soldier?  Mr.  Soldier [out walks a man dressed in a typical Roman soldier uniform]  And there he is!  Straight from Rome!  Nice to see you.  Greetings!  [Laughter] That’s a beautiful skirt, isn’t it?  I love that gold piping on there, that’s nice, very nice.  But the armor of God is what we’re going to talk about.  So, what I want you to think about—use your imaginations.  For some of you, this is going to be difficult, but use your imagination—as we dress this Roman soldier, I want you to mentally, by faith, to spiritually take up this armor, and put it on.

Now, this morning we’re only going to talk about three elements of the armor.  I want you to remember the order of the armor and then next week, we’ll look at three other elements of armor.  There are six elements, six pieces.  But this morning, we’re just going to look at the first three due to time limitations.  But folks, if we’re going to do battle with the evil, if we’re going to stand firm, if we’re going to put it on, we’ve got to appropriate the full armor of God.  And the full armor of God, it’s Jesus, that’s what it means, it’s Christ.  These are word pictures talking about who we are in the Lord.  So, we need to appropriate, to put on Christ, every single day.  And, I’ll tell you something else.  If most of us spent just half the time getting dressed spiritually that we do getting dressed externally, physically, going shopping at the malls and at this outlet and this sale and this tie and this dress, we wouldn’t have many of the problems that we have today.  So, the armor of God.

Now, the first part of armor that I want to talk about—and I would like for this gentleman to put on—is called “the belt of truth.”  It’s in Verse 14—the belt of truth.  But before we put the belt of truth on, because we’re authentic, a Roman soldier would put on a long, flowing robe over his short mini-skirt as he was preparing for battle, and this is one of our baptismal robes, but for demonstrative purposes, it’s like a real, authentic Roman toga or tunic, okay?  Here we go.  You look great!  The belt of truth, see it there in Verse 14?  The belt of truth.  The Roman soldier would put this long robe on, then he would take the belt of truth, and this belt was the cornerstone of his wardrobe and put the belt around his waist.  I’ll get you to buckle that, John.  He kind of looks like Arnold, doesn’t he?  “I’m here to pump you up.”  So, he puts the belt of truth on.  Now, the belt held a lot of fighting utensils, weapons, and many other things, but as he was preparing himself for war, it would be pretty tough for him to maneuver and to fight in hand-to-hand combat with a long dress, wouldn’t it?  Ladies, you understand.

Last week I was doing a wedding and it was a pretty large wedding and the bride had this gorgeous, long, flowing train.  I knew in the rehearsal that we were gonna have problems as she came up the steps because she kind of bounced up the steps with her groom and I thought, “Well, if she runs that quick, she might get caught in the dress,” you know, because she had these high heel things on.  So, I was standing there and I had done the service on the lower level and I said, “Now, we will do our response vows.”  So, I turned and made my way to the upper level and I turn around and I kind of give the wedding nod, kind of like this.  The music is playing, and as she’s coming up, her foot goes like this [slipping motion] and her husband-to-be caught her with one arm and kind of brought her back up and everyone went, “Ooooh!”  We couldn’t believe it.  So, if you’re trying to do battle with a long dress on, a long robe on, you can’t do it!  It’s impossible; you can’t maneuver!  Even as quick as John Gary is, he can’t do it.  So, what does this mean: the belt of truth?  Literally, “to gird up your loins.”  It means, when a Roman soldier got ready to fight, he would take the robe and tuck it in his belt and now, he is ready.  He’s free.  Look at those legs…go ahead, John, move around.  He’s fast, he’s lean, he’s ready to go, okay!

Now, the belt of truth refers to salvation.  Now, follow me, stay with me.  It refers to salvation.  The moment we receive Jesus Christ, as we invite Him into our life, as we receive the finished work on the Cross of what He did for us, He frees us up.  We have great freedom, we can move, we’re agile, we’re mobile, we’re light, we’ve gotten rid of all that trash that was holding us back.  So, the belt of truth.  And Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”

But again, the accuser likes to say, “Hey, if you give your life to Christ, it will really stifle your creativity.  It will limit you.  You won’t be able to be the kind of person that you really need to be.”  And we believe those lies; we accept those lies.  And how do you feel when you believed a lie or lived a lie until one day you discover it is a lie.  You feel betrayed!  You feel taken advantage of.  You’re hacked.  You’re angry.  And a lot of you are living your life on lies: “Oh, material goods will make you happy.  If you finally reached that area in society, that will really give you meaning.  If you join that club or if you drive that or if you do this, that will give you meaning,” but that’s a lie.  If you do those things, fine and good, but make sure you have buckled first of all, the belt of truth, which is salvation.

Remember, we spell biblical Christianity D-O-N-E, done!  We’re not religious; religion is spelled D-O.  “I do this…I can’t do this…I better do this.”  That’s religion.  Christianity is D-O-N-E, and once you receive the D-O-N-E work of Christ, then He’ll give you the ability from the inside out to D-O, to do the works that He wants you to do.  The belt of truth.

Take your Bibles and turn now to 1 Peter 1:13.  1 Peter 1:13 tells us to “gird up our minds.”  If we could look into our minds, many men and women have things that are holding them back, that are hindering us, that are causing us to trip, to stumble, maybe to fall just like that bride did last week because we’ve not dealt with sin.  Hebrews 12:1 says we’re to cast off the sin that so easily entangles us.  Let’s take off the warm-up suit, take off the ankle weights, take off the combat boots, and be able to move and free your legs up so the Christian life is freedom.

Now, what’s the next part of the armor?  Yes, we’ve talked about the belt of truth and you know what I call this belt too?  The spiritual utility belt.  Remember Batman?  I used to love to watch Batman?  Every time Batman would get into a difficult situation.  “Robin, if you could only reach my utility belt.”  He would reach it, and the utility belt would always get him out of trouble.  That’s where we begin, folks.  Remember, the spiritual utility belt.  That’s knowing Christ personally.

The next part of the armor is exciting.  That is called the breastplate of righteousness and this breastplate of righteousness covers the front, it covers the back, it covers the vital organs.  A Roman soldier is going into battle, they’d try to hit him with a spear or an arrow or maybe take him out with a Chuck Norris chop.  He’d have the breastplate of righteousness on.  Now, the word “righteousness” means two things.  First of all, it means “right conduct.”  It means rightly, godly, holy, pure living.  You see, if we let anything in our lives control us away from God, it provides an opportunity for Satan to come in and attack us.  If we have some type of sin of the mind or some type of habit or some type of relationship, the armor is half on and Satan will come in and he’s gonna nail us time and time and time and time again.

Now, we’re to live holy lives.  Why?  Out of guilt?  We should think, “God, if I’m not holy, if I don’t live a pure life, you’re gonna take a big baseball bat or stick and whack me upside of the head.”  Is that why I should live like that?  No.  I should be motivated out of love, out of what Christ has done for me, out of His unconditional love.  This breastplate of righteousness refers to godly living.  How is your life?  How would you live your life this week if you knew that Christ was gonna be with you every second of every day?  Would you still talk the way you do?  Would you still go to the same places?  Do the same things?  If Christ was right there?  He is there.  He’s right there.  He’s closer than you can even imagine.

Now, another meaning of righteousness has to do with the righteousness imputed to us by God once we receive Christ.  You see, we stand in the presence of God, not on our merits, but on Christ’s merits.  So we are totally righteous.  We are completely justified.  We are pure and holy because we’ve received Christ and this has been imputed to us.

Remember a couple of weeks ago I did the chair deal?  You’ve got God the Father in one chair, Joe Christian in the other chair and Jesus Christ in the other chair and a person walked up and said, “God the Father, which one of these two is more righteous, more holy, do you accept the most, do you love the most—Joe Christian or Jesus Christ?”  You know what God the Father would say?  “Positionally, they’re equal.  They’re equal.”  Not because of Joe Christian’s merits but because remember, he’s received Christ, and that righteousness has been given to him.”  So, we are to clothe ourselves in righteousness, in godly conduct, to realize who we are in Christ because Satan comes to us and he’ll say, “You don’t deserve to be used in the Kingdom of God.  You remember what you did?  Do you remember how you used to talk?  Do you remember…?  Do you remember…?  Do you remember…?” and we start believing these lies and thinking, “Why, you know, I’m not really righteous.  You’re right, Satan, I don’t deserve to be this and I’m feeling kind of defeated and depressed.”  Don’t believe those lies.  Just hey, hit the armor and say, “I’m clothed in the righteousness of Christ.  I have the belt of truth.  I have the breastplate of righteousness.”

But the armor gets better.  The last part has to do with the shoes.  We’re to shod our feet with the “gospel of peace,” and I’ll get you to put these shoes on John, if you would, please.  We’re to put on these gospel boots.  I call these “Air Gospel” boots.  So you’ve got the spiritual utility belt, you’ve gotten the spiritual “flapjacket.”  You’ve seen a quarterback slip back to pass and they expose themselves and whop, the lineman will come in, 290 pounds.   Well, that’s our spiritual flapjacket.  You’ve got the belt of truth and now you have these “Air Gospel” boots.

Now Roman soldiers, they had cleats on the bottom of their sandals.  Are you ready for that?  We couldn’t do that because we didn’t want to damage this art center’s floor.  But I’ll never forget when I was five years old, a long time ago.  They didn’t make cleats for children and I said, “Mom and dad, please give me cleats, please give me cleats.”  And they went out and bought a pair of these Buster Brown shoes, and they took them to a shoe store and the shoe man, who used to work at the golf course, put golf cleats on the bottom of these Buster Brown shoes.  I thought they were bad to the bone.  I was so excited and I’ll never forget, I opened them up and I said, “Oh, I’ve got cleats” because I used to go to football games and watch the big, you know [clicking sound].  And so, I put on one cleat and gave the other cleat to my best friend, Robert Campbell, and we went around the yards trying to get into grass and taking out divots and stuff and we loved because I felt so stable in that left foot, that left cleat.

Well, the “gospel of peace,” we stand on the solid rock, we dig in with these gospel shoes, it gives us great stability.  We’re in there!  And so many, many people in this world, gee, you’re not stable.  You’re basing your life on so many other things—it’s sinking sand, it’s moving, it’s like a lot of the land here in Irving.  It’s shifting all the time.  And you say, “That’s where I’m standing.”  But Christ says, “No, no, no, put on these air gospel cleats, the gospel of peace.”  And see, the word “peace,” not only do we have peace with God, but also peace with our fellow man.  The gospel of peace.  It says, we are to prepare ourselves, we’re to shod our feet with the gospel of peace.  That word “shod,” it means “ a readiness to share the gospel with words and also with action.”

So what happens?  Satan attacks.  He gets at us.  What do we do?  Do we say, “Well, I’ve got the gospel on me, the gospel boots of peace, I’ve got the belt of truth.”  Is that what we do?  No!  Remember the order?  Every time Satan comes after you, think about the order.  Remember, the belt?  “Satan, I know the truth.  The truth has set me free.  I know Christ.  I’m saved.  I’m sealed.  That’s it.  And because the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to me, hey, I have this breastplate of righteousness on.  I’m righteous.”  So, I know the truth, and because I know the truth, I’m righteous and because I’m righteous, and because I know the truth, what does it give me in my heart?  Peace.  It gives me peace.  See the relation?

What a beautiful word, from the Bible.  So what am I asking you today?  A very simple question.  Are you trying to do battle in your spiritual boxer shorts?  Are you partially clad?  Or have you put on these three elements, these three dynamic pieces of armor God wants you to put on?  Next week, we’ll completely dress this Roman soldier out, so stay with us.  Be here next week and we’ll look at the offensive weapons and other helmets and swords and things that relate to this warfare, this struggle that we’re in.

QUESTIONS FOR GOD

ARE HEAVEN AND HELL REAL PLACES?

PASTOR ED YOUNG

MAY 3, 1992

A couple of years ago, when I was at the height of my shark-hunting phase, some friends of mine and I would leave Houston and make the short one-hour trip to Galveston.  We’d set up camp on the beach in the afternoon.  We had a unique way of fishing for sharks.  We would take large, big-game reels that were too big to cast, and one of my friends would stand on the edge of the beach, and we would get in this small rubber raft—it was daylight, of course—and in the raft we would put a 20-pound, bloody stingray, the shark’s favorite bait.  We’d take the bait about 700 yards offshore, dump the bait, then turn the little raft around, make our way back to shore, and wait all night.  All of a sudden, in the quietness and the stillness of a salty evening, the big one would come by and grab the bait, and it is excitement!  It gets me fired up just talking about it.

One afternoon, we left a little late, we made it to the beach when the sun was just setting.  It was nighttime, and we’d never taken the bait out at night.  I said, “Who’s going to take the bait out?  Here’s the bloody stingray that weighs 20 pounds.  Who’s going to take the bait out?”  And my friend said, “No way, Ed.  I just got married.  No way!  I’m not risking my neck!  No way.  I saw the shark we caught last week.  I’m not going to touch this.  I’ll stay on the beach.”  And children, please do not do this at home, but your pastor said—this is nine years ago, before I got some gray hair—I said, “I will take the bait out.”  Dark, coffee-black waters off Galveston Island, shark-infested waters.

So I jump in this 8 foot rubber, inflatable raft, a little 1.75 HP Sears outboard motor on the back, and I make my way through the strong currents, the giant waves, these razor-sharp hooks, the bloody stingray going back and forth, no life jacket, a little paddle.  I’m out about 700 yards, and I’m saying, “Whoa!”  So, I look back and see the lights of Galveston.  I can see no one on the beach, of course, and I take the bloody stingray and throw it overboard.  But in my excitement, I didn’t realize that the big game line and aircraft cable leader got caught around the prop and I’m stuck out there, the motor shuts down and I’m like a human fishing cork.

Here’s my friend, 700 yards on the beach, the line all the way to the raft, 10 feet of big game fishing line and leader dangling under the raft, razor-sharp hooks, a bloody stingray, big tiger sharks and bull sharks looking.  Hmmm, the table was set.  I’ll be honest with you, I was frightened and I thought about death.  I really did.  I thought about death.  The currents were taking me out.  I was trapped, and all of a sudden, I had a super surge of adrenaline.  I bit through a 120-pound test line and freed the raft.  The stingray floated away, and I turned and paddled my way back to shore a mile down the beach.  As I was paddling against the currents, I thought, “Lord, is this it?  Please don’t let me die or be eaten by a shark.  Maybe some other way, God, but I don’t want to drown or be eaten by the great fish.”

Have you ever had a situation where you faced death or you thought about death?  That night when I thought about death, I checked my readiness factor, and I was ready to die.  I had peace about my death.  I wasn’t exactly fired up about dying in that particular manner, but I was at peace because my eternal security was in my relationship with Jesus Christ.  I had put my trust in Christ because He forgave me of my sins and I knew where I was going.

This past week, I was talking to a gentleman about life insurance and we talked about this and that, important matters, like our wills, who will get the shark-fishing equipment, things of that nature, but we never discussed the after-life.  We never discussed life after the grave because that’s a settled issue for me.  What I want you to think about this morning is how is your readiness factor?  Are you ready to die?  Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt if you were to die right now, where you would spend eternity?

Now some of you are skeptics and you’re saying, “I don’t believe in life after death, Ed.  I believe once you take your last breath on this earth, that’s it.  The candles are blown out.  It’s over.  Period.  Finished.  History.”  But over the next couple of moments, I would like to give you seven rational reasons for the existence of life after death.  Seven rational reasons for the existence of a heaven and a hell because you need to do some homework.  You need to have this issue settled.  I need to have this issue settled.  Where will I spend eternity?

I’m in the third segment of a series entitled, “Questions for God.”  The first week we asked God this question, “God, did Jesus really rise from the grave?”  Last week we asked God, “God, is your Bible trustworthy?  Is it true?”  Today we’re saying, “God, are heaven and hell real places?  You mean there’s life after the grave, God?”

We can see this in the natural realm.  The first rational statement concerning the after­life.  We can look at nature.  We can examine the cycles of nature and see that death gives way to life.  You take a seed.  A seed dies and it will germinate and grow a beautiful plant.  An acorn shrivels up, you have an oak tree.  The cycles of nature.  How about a caterpillar?  He’s cruising around.  One day he makes a cocoon, a tomb-like structure and a little bit later he bursts forth from this tomb-like structure as a gorgeous butterfly.

Plato observed this.   Plato checked out Nature and said, “This cyclical way that nature dies and something else lives because of the death I believe is a pattern, is a sign, is a symbol of what happens to human beings after they die.”  So first rational reason: Look at Nature.

Another rational reason: Study the laws of physics.  Albert Einstein and later others argued, and I quote—and this is the first law of thermodynamics—“Matter may change states, but it probably will not be created or destroyed.”  Many people have studied this first law of thermodynamics and again they say, “This could be a pattern.  This probably is a foreshadowing of what occurs after a human being dies.  Matter is not destroyed.  It continues in some shape or form.”  So, study the laws of physics.  Study nature.

Also, read the words of philosophers, the third rational reason.  There’s a gentleman by the name of Immanuel Kant who is no lightweight speaker and here is what Immanuel Kant says.  I quote, “All people on planet earth seem to have a concern for ethics.”  Why do we have a concern for ethics?  We have a built-in concern for ethics.  He says through a long, involved philosophical process, the only explanation for this inherent sense of ethics is something he calls justice.  Now, check this last statement out.  He argues, “Because justice is not applied fully in this life, it must be applied in the after-life by a judge who finally settles all accounts.  There must be, Kant says, an after-life, if for no other reason for justice once and for all to be served.  The philosophers.  Study philosophers.  They say, “There’s life after death.”

How about the built-in sense of eternity that we have?  Anthropologists have discovered this long ago in every culture, every nation, every nationality.  You name it, we all have a sense of the eternity built within our lives.  I read LeeBeth books all the time and these books at night always end “…and Bert and Ernie and Big Bird lived happily ever after;” “and the Berenstein Bears lived happily ever after.”  We love those few words, don’t we?  Happily ever after.  A built-in sense of eternity.  We want things to last.  We think there’s life after the grave.  So, how about the built-in sense of this eternal longing that we have?  It seems as though mankind cannot get away from thinking about, “There must be something else.  We must live forever.”

How about the fifth rational reason?  The fifth rational reason for believing in life after death.  Yes, ethics is important, but look at near-death experiences.  You realize over 8 million Americans have had near-death experiences where they have reported they saw the other side of life after death?  Bruce Geyerson, a professor at the University of Connecticut and an expert in studying near-death experiences states that when these people come back, when they are resuscitated, their lives are never the same.  They have a concern for morality, a concern to help other people, they are less materialistic.

My grandfather became a Christian, a believer, later in life; he was in his fifties and he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage and he was rushed into surgery and he died on the operating table.  But fortunately, they brought him back.  After that experience he related this story time and time again to the grandchildren, to everyone he saw.  He said, “I saw heaven.  I was in heaven and when I was in heaven, Ed, I was a little baby.  I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a new Christian or what, but I was a little baby.  The streets of gold, the city was beautiful, and I didn’t want to come back.  But I heard voices calling me “Come back.  Come back, Mr. Young.  It’s not through for you.  I have plans for you.”  And he said, “I didn’t want to go back, but someone in heaven told me, “Go back on earth and finish out your plan.”

My grandfather.  He was a changed man.  Not someone to make up some kind of hokey story or kind of talk about stuff like that all the time—a hardworking, country Mississippian.  My grandfather.  A near-death experience that changed his life.

But we also have to look at the Word of God, the sixth rational reason for believing in life after death.  We have to look at the infallible, inspired Word of God because the Bible speaks with greater clarity, with greater authority on the after-life than any other book ever penned.  It’s a major theme of the Bible: We will live forever in one of two places the Bible says, in heaven or in hell.  The Bible talks about this and God encourages us through the Scripture to read the Scripture, to study the Scripture to know about your eternity, to understand about life after death.  So the Bible, another rational reason.

But the final rational reason—and this reason we’re going to land on just for a while—we’ve got to look at what Jesus said concerning the after-life.  What did Jesus say about life after death?  He spoke about it more than any other particular person in history; and we can summarize Christ’s thoughts, His teachings on the after-life in four different principles.

The first principle is that Christ said the moment we close our eyes in death, we will immediately open them in eternity.  So Christ taught, first of all, a universal, immediate resurrection.  Take your Bibles and turn to the book of Acts, Chapter 24, Verse 15.  The book of Acts says, the last part of Verse 15, “and there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.”  There will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.  It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what you own, immediately we close our eyes on this planet, we open them into eternity.

Nadal, Jeffrey Dahmer, Lee Harvey Oswald-type folks, word on the street says that God will put the hammer-lock on them, God will slam dunk them to hell.  And we’re going to say, “Alright, God!  Double pump those people into hell.  They deserve it.  They committed those crimes and they’re sorry individuals.”  That’s what word on the street tells us.

Word on the street also tells us that to good people like us—moral people, people who never thought about crimes like these folks have committed—God is going to be like the friendly security guard in the apartment complex, “Come right on in.”  And we can say, “Hey God, I know you have tickets for me at will-call in heaven right there on the front row.  I’ll have two, yes, one for me and one for my wife.  Thank you.” “Ed, you’re a great guy, come on in!”  Kind of like the benevolent, grandfatherly figure.  “I know you tried real hard,” and kind of slap us on the rear, “Good job.  Get on in heaven.  Everything is fine.  You deserve it because you did so many good things.”

That’s what word on the street says.  But Jesus says that word on the street is wrong.  He said that the word on the street is incorrect.  It’s false!  It’s a lie from the evil one!  Jesus said God will ask us one question.  Not what did you do; what didn’t you do?  God will say, “Who do you know?  Who do you know?  Have you trusted my Son, Jesus Christ as your Savior?”  And the Bible says many, not a few, “Many will say on that day”, in Matthew 7, “Lord, Lord, I did this in your name.”  “I taught in your name.  I was baptized in your name.  I took communion in your name.  I taught that Sunday School class.  Iwas right there at The Fellowship of Las Colinas.  Lord, I believe you are the savior of the world.”  But God’s going to say, “That’s great.  That’s fine.  But is my Son your Savior?  Not the Savior; I know that.  But is He your Savior?  Have you trusted Him?  Have you let Him come into your life to change your life?”  That’s what God’s going to ask.  One simple question.

There will be change.  You won’t turn into Billy Graham overnight, but you will see a difference in your life.  Jesus tells us over and over throughout Scripture, “I will be able to tell my believers by the fruit they produce.”  I know a lot of people who go by the label of Christian, they say “Praise the Lord,” “Hallelujah,” “I love you, God,” and sing all the songs and say this and do that and don’t do this and do that; but they don’t know the Lord.  They don’t know Him.  They’ve never come to that point where they have received Christ.  They think they’re going to swing into heaven on the coat tails of a family member who started a church long ago.  Or “My father was a good pastor,” or “My mother was a godly woman.”  They think, “Well, I can get into heaven that way.”  Or “Because I have more good marks than bad marks, God will say, ‘Okay, come on in.  That’s a high five for you.’”  But the Bible says we are saved by grace through faith.  I cannot repeat this enough to you!  We are not saved by works!  You are not saved by works!

“But how about Aunt Ethel?” you say, “Sweet Aunt Ethel.  Boy, she reared four beautiful children.  She gave $1 million to The United Way.  She volunteered at the hospital.  How can a good God throw Aunt Ethel into hell?”  Frankly, I’ve had it up to here with that question.  I want to jump down someone’s throat when they say that to me.  You know what the Bible says about God loving people?  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish.”  That’s God’s agenda.  That’s God’s focus.  God says, “I want you to know what heaven’s about.  I want you to experience eternity.   I don’t want anyone to perish.”  2 Peter 3:9, God tells us, “I’m patient.  I’m waiting.  I want all to repent because I don’t want anyone to perish.”  So don’t say that God slam dunks Aunt Ethel into hell.

Let me tell you what heaven and hell are.  Heaven is God granting us in an expanded capacity what we yearned for on this earth.  That’s what heaven is.  If you know Jesus Christ, your number one yearning is to follow Him, to love Him, to express love to Him.  When we get to judgment, God will say, “Ed, that was your yearning.  Yes, you were limited.  Yes, you are a sinner.  Yes, you messed up, but I will give you an expanded capacity to love me and heaven will be an awesome place.”

The Bible says in heaven we will have perfected bodies; relationships will be beautiful.  Take the best feeling you’ve ever felt folks, multiply it by a million times to the millionth power, and you won’t even have a sliver of what heaven is about.

John described heaven in the book of Revelation using anthropomorphic literature, a linguistic technique.  He tried to describe the supernatural in humanistic terms.  He calls heaven a city.  Now is heaven a city?  Population 2.4 million.  Get on the heavenly tour bus and tour the beautiful lakes and the rivers.  It means heaven is a place somewhere.  It’s perfect relationships, fellowship with believers and with God.

John, another example, says we will have white robes and that makes those who are fashion-conscious kind of shudder.  “Well, will it be double-breasted?  Will it flatter my figure?  I’m not sure I want to go to heaven…white robes and everything.”  The word “white robes” in Revelation in the Greek means “the glory of God.”  Perfection—we will be sinless.  John also says heaven will have eternal rivers of flowing water.  That again talks about the fact that it will go on forever and ever and ever.   Our need to be stimulated, to be excited, to have adventuresome tasks will all be fulfilled.  That’s heaven: an expanded capacity of what our number one yearning is here on earth.

But how about hell?  What’s hell like to the unbeliever?  Aunt Ethel will come before God and God will say, “Aunt Ethel, you’re 81 years old.  You spent most of your life trying to stiff-arm the Bible, kind of do the Heisman Trophy on the church, easing away from that spiritual word.  Someone invited you to church, you backed away from them.  Yes, you may be a fine and good person, Aunt Ethel, but thousands and thousands of times the Holy Spirit tugged on your heart.  I whispered in your ear, and Aunt Ethel you said, ‘God, you can take a hike.’  Aunt Ethel, I’m going to grant to you in expanded capacity what you yearned for on this earth, which is isolation and separation from me.  So I won’t bother you anymore,” God’s going to tell Aunt Ethel.  “I won’t tug on your heart anymore.  I won’t love you anymore.”  Hell is a real place.

“But I don’t want to go to heaven, Ed.  The harp music…what about an electric guitar, maybe a synthesizer?   That’s what the Bible says, harp music.  I’m not into harp music.”  Again, that’s figurative language.  John is talking about the fact that there will be worship.

Do you remember a couple of years ago when the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series?  Remember the theme song?  “We are family.”  Remember that?  50,000 people rocking back and forth, “I’ve got all my sisters with me.”  Remember that?  I thought about heaven because millions and millions of Christians, we’ll have worship and we’ll be saying, “We are family.”  We will worship the Lord and it will be a perfect environment.  Expanded capacity—that’s heaven.

But hell, the Bible says, refers to utter darkness.  That means isolation.  You won’t know if your friends are in hell.  You say, “My friends are going to hell.  I want to be with them.”  You won’t even know it.  You will be isolated.  Solitary confinement.  The Bible says, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  You know what the words “gnashing of teeth” mean?  It’s like you’re playing golf.  You have a two-foot put, and you’re finally going to beat this guy who’s beat you for the last two years.  Instead, you kind of pull it to the right.  You go [grinding sound].  That’s gnashing of teeth [laughter].  Gnashing of teeth.  You’re in hell and you realize, “How could I be so stupid?  I had all the evidence.  I had evidence galore to receive Christ.  I saw the rational arguments for the validity of the Bible, what Christ did.  Using the classical historical method, seeing that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, rose again.  I felt the tug of the Holy Spirit but I said, “No.  I’m going to do it my way!”  That’s gnashing of teeth.

This past week I gnashed my teeth because we forgot to roll up the windows in our 1985 Suburban before the hailstorm occurred.  I walked outside and I looked inside the Suburban and there are puddles of water about that deep.  I had the gnashing of teeth.  But a better definition of “gnashing of teeth” would be when you’re walking down the corridors of the hospital and you hear someone crying out in pain.  Again folks, that is hell.

So Christ says there will be immediate resurrection.  There will be a judgment.  Thirdly, He’s going to separate those who know Christ from those who do not know Christ, and finally, He will assign individuals to heaven or to hell.

Again, the judgment is not going to be God slam-dunking.  God’s going to say, “What was your yearning?”  He’ll be able to tell our yearning.  “Hey, I’m going to give you an expanded capacity of what your yearning is.”  And folks, I ask that question of you: What is your yearning?  What turns you on?  What motivates you?  The marketplace?  Success?  Power?  To get all the glory for me, me, me!  To climb the corporate ladder.  For pleasure?  Is that your yearning?  If that is your yearning, there’s no need to talk any further because God’s going to say, “I’m going to give you an expanded capacity of that yearning.”  If your yearning is first for the Lord and seeking Him, an expanded capacity for that.

Well, what if your yearning is away from God?  I’ve got great news for you because the salvation message, the gospel, is good news.  You can say right now before God, “God, I want to turn my back on my yearnings and I want to follow you.  I want to yearn after you.  I want to follow Jesus Christ.  I know Christ wants to meet me right where I am.  Lord, I give it all to you.”  You can take and make that decision right now, today, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt where you’re going after the grave.

Years ago, a very successful attorney was talking to a junior in high school.  This successful attorney said, “Son, tell me about your plans.”  The young man said, “Well, after I graduate from high school, I’m going to enroll in this Ivy League institution.”  The attorney said, “Well, that’s great!  What next?”  “After that—because I’ve watched you, sir—I’m going to enroll in law school.”  And the man said, “That’s great.  What’s next?”  “Well, after law school, I’m going to get into a law practice and one day, I want to be a senior partner of a law firm.”  This gentleman said, “Great.  What next?”  He said, “Well, then I’ll get married and have children.”  “What next?”  Eventually, it will be time to retire.  I will have a nice nest egg, maybe a house on Lake Fork to do some bass fishing.”  The successful attorney looked at him and said, “What next?”  He said, “Then, well, I’ll probably die.”  He said, “What next?”  He said, “To be honest with you, I haven’t thought about that.”  And this wise, Christian attorney looked at him and said, “Young man, you are very foolish.  You are not ready to live until you’re ready to die.”

Are you ready to die?  Do you know if you will spend eternity with Jesus Christ?  I pray that you do.

QUESTIONS FOR GOD

WHY IS THERE SUFFERING IN THE WORLD?

PASTOR ED YOUNG

MAY 31, 1992

Would you please take out a pencil or a pen and if you could grab a piece of paper, maybe the bulletin or something else to write on.  If you don’t have a pen or a pencil, you could borrow from your neighbor.  What I’d like for you to do is to write down the biggest problem, the greatest suffering, that you are enduring at the present time.  It could be a financial problem, a death in the family, an illness, a rebellious teenager.  What are you going through right now?  A time of suffering.  I’ll give you a couple of moments to write that down as I record mine.

For this message to really impact and change your life, I want you to put this particular subject at the forefront of your minds.  When we try to tackle this question, “God, why is there suffering in this world?” I want you to think about what you’re going through and ask the Lord to apply biblical principles to your life.  I’d like to briefly share with you what I recorded on my piece of paper up here.  The greatest suffering that I’m going through right now has to do with my six-month old son.  After Lisa and I had LeeBeth who now is five years of age, we wanted to have another child.  We tried for a couple of years.  Nothing.  We saw all the infertility doctors and specialists, until finally, Lisa became pregnant.  We were so excited!  People were praying for us, and she miscarried.  That was stuff to deal with, but we said, “I know God you have another child for us.”  So, more doctors.  A long period of time elapsed.  We prayed and we found out we were expecting again.  I was overjoyed!  I wrote down in my prayer journal for years, “God, give us a child.  May he or she be healthy.  I dedicate this child before it is born to you.”

On and on I wrote and six months ago we were so excited—the perfect, healthy, baby boy.  Almost 9 pounds.  The family was there.  The friends.  Many of you came by and visited and we were so excited.

When EJ was three months old, Lisa took him to our pediatrician for a routine check-up and the pediatrician noticed six small skin discolorations on his body.  We didn’t think anything about it, but the doctor informed Lisa that he had a symptom of a disease called neurofibromatosis, which is a neurological disorder that affects the nervous system.  The doctor said, “He’s perfectly healthy now.  He could live a normal life with just spots on his body or the consequences could be severe, in many cases, fatal.”

I was keeping LeeBeth that Thursday afternoon.  Lisa walked through the door of our house from the garage and she was pale.  She told me the news and my first words were, “What?  Why would God do this to me?  I’m a pastor.  I’ve dedicated my life to the Lord.  Why would God do this to us, Lisa?”  I said, “Why?  Why?  Why?”  And folks, I’ll be honest with you, this has been the most difficult thing that I’ve ever been through in my life—the uncertainty, the question marks, the suffering.

Over the next couple of moments, I want to share with you what God has done in my life through this suffering because I have great news.  The Lord Jesus has deposited some incredible blessings, some beautiful principles into my life concerning suffering.

Take your Bibles and turn to the book of Romans, Chapter 5, if you would.  We’re going to be in this chapter the entire session this morning.

Why is there suffering in the world?  I hear that question often.  People say, “Ed, if you can answer, man, I’ll become a Christian.”  How about the little babies over in Zimbabwe or this person having cancer or the car wreck or the murder or the building burning with hundreds of people…  Why?  Why is there suffering in the world?  I think to answer this question we have to look at the source of suffering.  What’s the source of suffering?

Romans Chapter 5, Verse 12 gives us the source.  Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin and in this way death came to all men because all sinned.”  Why is there suffering in the world?  The Bible says because of the fall of man.  I’m not talking about man just tripped up.  God created man with the freedom of choice.  He created Adam and Eve.  Everything was perfect in the Garden of Eden.  God says, “I have a perfect will for your life.”  Everything was hunkey dorey but God gave us a freedom of choice.  He didn’t make us like robots.

You remember the Jackson 5 with Michael Jackson, the dance he used to do, The Robot?  I used to love that dance.  I think sometimes people say, “God, I wish you could make me into a robot.”  [God controls us saying,] “It’s time to pray now, Ed.  It’s time to share Jesus, Ed.”  Now, we could live a perfect life, but if God made us like robots, we wouldn’t be human beings.

So, Adam and Eve had that choice and they fumbled the ball.  They rebelled.  They chose to go their own way and the Bible says from that moment on, sin entered the world.

We are born with a sin nature.  No one taught me how to sin.  My first grade teacher didn’t say, “Ed, after we finish this writing assignment, I’m going to teach you how to cheat.  Here’s how you cheat.  And after cheating, we’ll go into stealing.  You see, when someone’s looking this way, you take this and put it in your coat, and kind of walk off with it.”  My teacher didn’t do that.  It’s natural.  We were born that way.  We inherited it from Adam.  Much of the suffering in the world is due to the fact that we live in an imperfect world.  We live in a fallen world and we make poor choices.  That’s why there is a lot of suffering.

But there is another reason.  You see, the evil one was defeated at the cross, but he’s allowed to roam and to torment and to tempt and to ridicule until the final judgment.

The fall of man—that’s a reason for suffering.  Satan is a reason for suffering.  Also the Bible says, the consequences, the judgment of sin, is another reason some people suffer.  If you’re wondering, “Am I suffering because of a sin?” then you’re not suffering because of that sin.  If you are suffering due to a specific sin, you will know it.  There will be no doubt about it.

Miriam, back in the Old Testament, tried to challenge the authority of Moses and God struck her with leprosy.  Ananias and Sapphira, they were hypocritical.  They lied.  They cheated.  God struck them dead.  A modern-day example: We wouldn’t have the venereal disease that is around our world if men and women had obeyed the principles of God way, way, way back there.  One woman, one man, having sex in marriage.  But because men and women went their own way and had sex outside of marriage, you have these venereal diseases.  So, a consequence of sin is the result of some suffering in the world.

But there is another reason God allows suffering and that is for the Lord to be displayed, for the Lord to be glorified in a life.  You remember the disciples?  They were walking around with Jesus one day and saw a blind man.  They said, “Lord, I’ve figured this thing out Jesus.  This man is blind.  Now, did he sin or did his parents sin or his grandfathers way back there in the generations?”  Christ said, “None of them sinned.  This man is blind so the glory of God can be exhibited.”

Another reason for suffering, the source of suffering: To sum it up in one word—imperfection.  We live in a fallen world.  It’s sad to say, but when suffering comes knocking at the door of our lives, most of us go through four typical scenarios.  We’ve seen the source.  Now let’s look at humanistic, typical scenarios that we go through when suffering comes our way.

The first scenario is the side-step scenario.  It’s kind of like Michael Irvin, he catches a pass and tries to side-step everyone.  He’s this way and that way.  “Whoa!  I’m not going to get touched!”  He wants to make it to the end zone, and a lot of people live their lives like that.  They’re going to side-step suffering.  “Hey, I made it.  Whoa!  Almost suffered there.”  Living your life like that is like playing dodge ball with Nolan Ryan.  Nolan’s going to nail you.  You’re not going to be able to dodge that ball.  The Bible says suffering is inevitable.  It’s going to happen.  If you’re breathing, if your heart is beating, you will go through some type of suffering, some type of distress, problems or pain.  It’s going to happen!  So don’t live your life on the defensive and “Whoa!  I hope I’m not going to suffer.”  Go ahead and step out and follow the Lord and let Him carry you through the suffering.

The second typical scenario we enter when suffering comes knocking is the smile technique.  I call this the Ed McMahon technique.  Ed, for 35 years, had that fake laugh, “Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Yes sir.  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!”  We have no clue if Johnny was that funny or not, but Ed, “Ha!  Ha!”  And Ed would be going through personal problems and just, “Ha!  Ha!”  Sounds like you, doesn’t it?  You’re going through suffering.  “Everything’s fine.  It’s cool.  I’m smiling.  It’s phony.  It’s hypocritical.  It’s a fake job.”  Sidestep, the smiler.

How about the super-spiritual scenario.  Some think, “I’m going to be super-spiritual.  You know, God is like Jose Canseco with a giant Louisville slugger and He likes to whack Christians about every day.  It’s spiritual when you suffer.  I can’t wait till the next suffering.  Oh, I’m a martyr.”   We think that God is masochistic and we run around and suffer and say, “I’m the most spiritual because I’ve gone through this suffering.  I’m going through such a terrible time.  Praise the Lord.  Isn’t it great?”  [Laughter]  You know people like that.

How about the sink technique, the sink scenario.  We get on the high dive like Greg Louganis.  We tie a weight around our waist, and we dive into a pool of despair, sit on the bottom, and drown in our suffering.  We blame God; we blame authority figures—teachers, pastors, whoever.  “I hate you.  I turn my back on you,” and we drown in this water.  Could that be you?  Could that be me?  Do those sound familiar, those typical scenarios of suffering?

Let’s change gears here and talk about some exciting biblical points, biblical significances concerning suffering.  I want to direct your attention to Romans, Chapter 5 again.  We’re going to cover Verses 1 through 4.  The significance of suffering.  You say, “Now hold on, Ed.  You’re telling me there is a biblical significance to suffering?” That’s right.  The significance of suffering can be summed up in two phrases.  It’s purposeful and it’s productive.  Suffering is purposeful and it’s productive.  But to lay the groundwork, the framework for this particular subject matter, let’s look at Verse 1 of Romans, Chapter 5.  The significance of suffering.

First of all, it’s purposeful.  Paul writes, “Therefore, since we have been justified…”  In the original language, this word “justified,” means the subject, human beings, men and women, have received this gift.  We have not initiated anything in regard to our salvation.  We have just received it.  We have not initiated it.  “Therefore since we’ve been justified through faith….”  Circle the term “through faith.”  Not through works, not through being a great guy, not because my father was a deacon or an elder or I’ve been baptized, homogenized, pasteurized in the church—through faith.  I’ve been justified through faith.

“We have peace with God.”  The Bible tells us a very interesting concept.  When we’re born, we are at war with God.  There’s a war going on in your life and my life.  We’re unbelievers.  We’re at war.  But the moment we receive Jesus Christ (God’s peace treaty) then we have peace with God.  And once we have peace with God, we have the peace of God in our lives.  Do you have the peace of God?  Are you at peace with God?  If you know Jesus Christ, you are justified.  So, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith.”

Circle that phrase “gained access.”  What if I decided this afternoon to go home and place a long distance call—I’ll pay for the charges—to George Bush.  How many people in here think I could call George Bush, and he would answer?  “Oh Ed, how are you doing?  How are the services?  I hear you’re at two services now—9:40 and 11:00.  Great!  That’s prudent.”  [Laugher]  How many people think I could do that?  It’s not going to happen.  George Bush is inaccessible; he’s relatively inaccessible.  I couldn’t get in touch with him.  When we’re unbelievers, when we’re at war with God, God is even more inaccessible than the President of the United States.  But remember, once we receive Jesus Christ by grace through faith, then we have a hotline directly to the Father through the Son.  The moment I trust what the Son has done, I know the Father.

So, “I’ve gained access by faith into His grace”—the word “grace” means God giving us what we don’t deserve—“in which we now stand.”  I stand in the presence of God, not on my own merits, but by grace through faith, Christ is standing with me.  I stand, I’m justified, “and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”  So we understand we have to be believers.  We’re seeing now there’s a purpose and a significance of suffering.  Now let’s watch this concept get very vivid and clear.

Look at Verse 3; this verse totally blew me away.  It says, “Not only so but we also rejoice in our suffering.”  I’m thinking, “We rejoice in our suffering?”  Lisa and I have been going through the unknown here with our child.  God, you want me to rejoice in suffering?  I want you to notice the Word of God does not say we are to rejoice because of our suffering or we’re to rejoice and enjoy suffering.  It says we are to rejoice—what’s the word?  Say it with me—in, in our suffering.

Remember the piece of paper I had you fill out at the start of this message?  Whatever that subject or principle or person or situation is, insert it right now in place of the words “our suffering” in Verse 3.  So, here is how it would read: Is this true?  Not only so, but Ed, we also rejoice in the suffering of EJ (or in this particular illness or in the recent death of a loved one.)

It’s our choice to rejoice.  So we rejoice in our suffering because we know that suffering is productive.  It’s purposeful.  God allows it.  God does not cause all suffering.  Most suffering, God does not cause, but we like to blame God.  Why is there suffering in the world, God?  It’s man’s responsibility.  We’re the ones that mess everything up.  God doesn’t owe us anything.  And we want an explanation, don’t we?  We’ve got to have an explanation for everything.  I’ve got to understand this.

I’ve always wondered, “What if God gave us an explanation—A,B,C,D,E,F,G—about every suffering, every problem, every trial in the world, would it help the situation?  Would it help the suffering?  Would you say, “Oh, well, now I have an explanation, I guess now I can trust Christ.”  Our minds are limited folks.  We can’t understand the mind of God.  We talked about last week that God’s ways are higher than our ways.

God allows suffering for a purpose.  It’s significant.  So, when you’re going through suffering, you need to say, “God, it’s difficult.  I hate it.  I don’t like it, but I want to rejoice in this circumstance because I realize it’s a gift from you.  You trusted me with this gift and you’re going to do great things with my character, in my life and prayerfully God, you are going to be glorified through this suffering.” Our suffering can become an offering to God, an act of worship to God.  Have you given your suffering to God?  Are you realizing, “Hey, there’s a purpose behind this”?

But not only is there a purpose; it’s also productive.  Let’s read on.  “We rejoice in our suffering”—it’s our choice to rejoice—“because we know suffering produces”—and this is a spiritual chemical that it produces in your life and my life.  I’m suffering.  I see the purpose and here’s the spiritual chemical, PCH.  You know what PCH is?  I’m going through a turmoil.  I’m going through suffering.  God says, “It’s going to be productive, Ed, for your life.  It’s going to produce PCH—perseverance, character, and hope.  PCH.  It’s going to produce that if we keep our eyes focused on the Lord Jesus Christ.

I talked to a couple last night in our church who have endured great suffering for almost a year.  They told me the secret of going through the suffering, of staying on the higher ground, of being on top of the circumstances, was to keep their eyes on Jesus.  They told me the moment they look to the left or to the right or at the crowd or the gallery, that’s when they began to experience turmoil and doubt and began to sink and drown in that pool of suffering.

So, it’s to produce perseverance.  What’s perseverance?  The word “perseverance” means “to hang in there.”  To hang in there.  LeeBeth just found a little turtle.  His name is Mr. T—kind of an original name—and Mr. T has a little rock in his aquarium.  He just hangs on the rock.  Almost all day long, he hangs there, but Mr. T is tough.  Don’t mess around with Mr. T.  If you stick your hand down there, he will snap at your finger.  He hangs there tenaciously, and that’s what the word “perseverance” means.  It’s not a passive-type perseverance.  “Well, I’m just going to sit back and take the suffering.”  It’s not that.  It is a tenacity.  It is something we are living.  It is something we’re going toward.  You hear the words “Go for it,” that’s the word “perseverance.”  And God says, “Through your trial, whatever it may be, you are going to produce perseverance.  It’s going to build character.”

See the word “character”?  The word “character” in the Greek means “proven reliable.”  Proven reliable.  Beginning next week, I’m starting a series entitled, “That’s the Way the Character Crumbles.”  We’re talking about Christian character.  But character means “proven reliable.”

1 Peter 1:7—I talked about it Wednesday night—speaks beautifully to this concept.  1 Peter 1:7 says our lives, when we go through sufferings and trials, are like gold.  I want to produce perseverance, character, hope.  He knows we are ready, He knows I am ready when He can see His reflection in my life.  That’s God’s desire.  That’s His dream.  To see us emerge as stronger individuals for Him.

Perseverance, character, and the final word, “hope.”  What is the word “hope”?  Does it say, “I wish” or “I want.”  It’s confidence that the Lord Jesus will always be there.  The word, “Holy Spirit” means the Comforter, the one who comes alongside.  That is what Christ does and He wants to do, and the Holy Spirit will do if we’ll allow Him.  He’ll walk with us hand in hand through every bit of suffering we encounter.  So suffering is productive and once it’s productive, we see it from a different perspective and once we see it from a different perspective, we see it produces PCH.

Go back to the little words you wrote at the beginning of the service.  What are you producing?  Are you producing anger, resentment, anxiety, or PCH?  To conclude, I’d like to share with you briefly a couple of principles I believe you can apply to your life and that God wants to deposit where you are today so that you can get a grip, a grasp on suffering.  Three principles.

Principle number one: You’re going through suffering, share your suffering with the Savior.  The first principle—suffering comes knocking at the door, share your suffering with the Savior.  The moment we found out about EJ, we began to pray, to share our anger, our resentment, our feelings with God.  Read the book of Psalms.  David, many times is angry at God.  I thought God had betrayed me.  “God, why?  Why?  Why?”  I began to share my feelings with God, and the moment you share your feelings with God, oftentimes He will change our attitude more than He will change or alter the circumstances.  So, I say, “God, I want an attitude of gratitude.  I want to share my sufferings with you, Jesus.”  And we think our sufferings are unique.  We think, “I’m the only one that ever feels suffering.  I’m the only one who has ever gone through this.  No one understands.  I am in my own little world on this island called suffering, and the mainland is over there where everyone else is.  This is the way it is.”

The Bible tells us in Isaiah 53:6, that Jesus Christ identifies with, He is very close to, and He understands our suffering.  In fact, Isaiah 53:6 says Jesus Christ has experienced our sufferings first, before we ever experience them.  So our emotion, our feelings of pain, are really secondary emotions because Christ has experienced them first.  We’re to give them to the Lord.  He’s sympathetic and He understands.  So, share your sufferings with the Savior.

Second principle: Share your sufferings with others.  Share your sufferings with others.  Boy, I thank the Lord that we had a church full of dynamic Christians so I could share what was on my heart concerning my son.  That I could share and they would pray for us.  I’m a living example, a testimony of the grace of God.  EJ is doing great right now.  He’s the perfect six-month old baby boy.  But I’m at peace because there’s a giant question mark for his future.  I’m at peace with God and by God.  Why?  Because of prayer.  Because of prayer.

Now, if I did not ask other people to pray for me, if I didn’t pray, I would look at everything from a horizontal perspective.  But because I’m seeking the Lord, because others are praying for us, I see it from a totally different perspective, and I have the peace, folks, that surpasses all understanding.  Yes, there are days that are tough.  Yes, there are still days I question, I wonder, but there is the power, there is the underlying foundation of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit that comforts.

Let me say a word parenthetically about those of you who need to help others who are going through suffering.  When people are suffering, a lot of us treat them like the plague.  “Oh, I can’t get near them.  Let me take some antibiotics.  I’m going to stay away.  They just had a death in the family.  I found out they have cancer.  They’re in the hospital.  I’m going to stay way, way away because (here it is) I don’t know what to say to them during the time of suffering.”  Have you ever said that before?  I have.  “I cannot go to ICU because I don’t know what to say.”  People say, “Ed, how do you do it?  You deal with a lot of tragic circumstances.  What do you say to someone who has just lost a teenager due to a traffic accident?  What do you say?”  It’s what you don’t say.  You don’t say a word.  You just try and be there.  Be there.  Be there.

Don’t go around as Mr. or Mrs. Super-spiritual and say, “Let me quote you Romans 8:28, ‘For all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.’”  “You know, it’s God’s will.  I know it’s suffering now, but one day in heaven we’ll look back…”  I know of more well-meaning Christians who have taken that attitude who have totally destroyed people going through suffering.  Folks, put your arm around them.  Love them.  Cry with them.

One of the first pastoral assignments I ever had was with a family whose child had drowned and I walked into the situation.  I was 23 years old.  I started crying.  I couldn’t even pray, couldn’t even talk, and I go back and I’m talking to another pastor and I said, “Man, I blew it.  They must think I’m an imbecile.  Here I am supposed to be strong.”  He said, “What happened?” and I told him.  He said, “That’s what you’re supposed to do.  You just be there.”

Who is suffering around you?  Who is suffering?  Who is going through pain?  Are you over here, removed, saying, “I’m not going to get near them.”  God wants you to step out and to minister.

Here’s the third principle: Rely daily on the sufficiency of God’s grace.  God gives us just enough grace to make it day by day.  Don’t say, “What will I do next year?  How about 10 years?  How about 50 years?”  You rely on God’s grace today and don’t worry about tomorrow.  God is in control.  Don’t worry about that.  Three principles that God wants to deposit on your life.

During the great Chicago fire, Horatio Spafford’s house was burned to the ground.  During the rebuilding phase, Horatio Spafford sent his wife and three children on a ship to Europe.  The ship got near the continent and before it could get to port, a storm took it out to sea.  The ship overturned.  It sunk.  Spafford’s wife went overboard.  The three children went overboard and the children floated away from her grasp.  She made it to England and she sent a two-word cable to Horatio Spafford which read, “Saved alone.”  Horatio Spafford jumped aboard the next ship to Europe to be with his wife and he instructed the captain of the vessel to inform him when the ship was going to sail near the area where his three children had drowned.  As he was passing over that area, the captain said, “Mr. Spafford, here’s where it happened.”  He leaned over the rail and he wrote the following song lyrics:

“When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’”