Here is the message on Matthew 27:45-50 that I taught on Tuesday, Dec. 6, for the Dahlonega community advent luncheon series, entitled, "Waiting Through the Pain." Both audio and sermon notes are included below. I love teaching in that context, where believers from all over the community come together to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Thanks to St. Luke's Catholic Church for hosting!
I spent all day Tuesday at Amicalola Falls State Park. I left my laptop at home and turned my phone off so that I could spend 8 hours with my Bible, a notebook and Jesus. I focused on Psalm 23:1-3a, "1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul."
I could hardly get past that last statement: He restores my soul. It gripped me, and begged so many questions.
This last question is the dangerous one. It is utterly untheoretical; totally practical. When I looked deeply into the core of my being (my soul) from which I derieve my motives, desires and sense of identity, I was disturbed. My soul was restless. Tired. Anxious. Frantic. Empty. Lacking love. Filled with insecurities. Lacking vision, energy and peace. Whoa.
Then I began to ask how the LORD restores souls. In one word: rest. Matthew 11:28-29 came to mind, as did other passages such as Psalm 63 and 103. Spiritual rest and physical rest. Emotional rest, too. Resting my entire identity on the promise: "Come to me, and I will give you rest for your souls." That is the promise of the gospel. Jesus works for us. He fulfills the law; he suffers the penalty. We watch and rest. We believe and receive.
That is why Psalm 23 says that we will lack nothing. We may want stuff, but we'll never be in real need, without the gospel and the presence and power of God—even in the vally of the shadow of death. As our Shepherd, he makes us lie down in green pastures. There is something about the Lord having to make me lie down. Resting is not natural for a performance based creature like myself. And so Monday, I realized that I was out of gas and knew that I had to get away for a fill up. The Lord was making me lie down in the green grass of the gospel so that I could feed all day—grazing in his grace. He provided still waters from which I could easily drink my fill. It was an opportunity to be still and know.
If you have the opportunity, take a few minutues for some daily restoration, or maybe even a more extended time. If you have not asked the question, "What is the condition of my soul," let me encourage you to do so. And as you do, read Scripture, reflect on it, pray about it, listen to God, and write what comes to mind. Then repeat and repeat until you sense your soul being restored. It may take an hour, or an entire day... or more. It's worth carving the time. After all, I maintenance my vehichles to keep them running. Shouldn't I take time to maintenance my soul with the truth of the gospel, that our Shepherd laid down his life for us, knows us by name, and will never let us go.
In order to wrestle though some personal issues related to my family of origin, I'm re-reading Scotty Smith's book, Objects of His Affection. It is a remarkable, biographical (and vulnerable) journey of his moving from knowing intellectually about the love of God to experiencing personally the God of love. I commend it to you with the strongest recommendation. Here is a slice that I found helpful last night:
Do you remember the voice that sounded from heaven the day Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist? This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). God the Father has always loved and delighted in God the Son—and vice versa. Jesus has never been anything other than the Father's pleasure and deepest delight... The same love, delight, and pleasure that God the Father has for God the Son, he has for all of those who are in Christ—no exceptions. (page 37)
No exceptions? That means, in seven words, that I am an object of His affection. By sheer grace and mercy and born of perfect, eternal love, God has set his love upon me. Is that possible? Can it be that God would not merely tolerate me, but treasure me? Can I really be loved, accepted and delighted in by the King of Heaven? The gospel says, "Yes," and I am undone.
Here is this past Sunday's message from Matthew 7:24-27, "Despair, but Don't Despair." For a link to the sermon, go here. The message roadmap is below.
Thanks to Dr. Johnny Long for the Three Foundations graphic.
I hope that you were encouraged by the reminder this morning as we began our gathering that we do not invite God to join us, but that God invites us to join and enjoy Him. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, "Come unto me those of you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Did you notice. He says "come to me" and that He will give to us. In worship, we do not come to display our faithfulness, but to become more mindful of His. We do not come to offer God our goodness, but to receive His—and to rest, be renewed and rejoice. Worship is drinking from the fountain of living water and responding with joy and gladness. I trust that you were filled and satisfied with the riches of God's grace today. We've got a long week ahead. It's good to be full.
Tomorrow (Sunday) night's Creekstone message is going to be one of those "when the rubber hits the road" messages. Looking at Matthew 14:22-33, we are going to talk about what it means to live by faith rather than by fear. The reality is that we are faced with many reasons to fear. However, when we embrace the truth of the gospel and live in the context of God's sovereign, grace-filled agenda, we are able to let go of our fears, control, and despair, and live with the trust of a child who has a really strong Daddy. It is a faith that sets us free to walk through the valley of the shadow of death (or job loss, or failure, or embarrassment, or whatever)... without fear... because He is with us. This just might be a life-changing message. Hope to see you then— 6:00 p.m. at the Park and Rec Center in Dahlonega. Here is a map.
Oops. These are not the Easter notes. Sorry. Will post those next. :)
Some have asked for the sermon notes from last week's Easter sunrise service. I guess some like audio and others the bare bones on paper. I hope that either way, we are led more and more to come alive to the wonder of the gospel.
How was the cross the ultimate Fear Factor challenge? Find out in this message, entitled, "The Cup."
