Sermon: Avoiding the Epic Fail (Luke 9:37-50): Tim Lewis

Avoiding the Epic Fail
Luke 9:37-50

Introduction

You want to know how to really fail in life? Just read these two verses with me.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen - Ephesians 3:20-21

Got that? Now do the opposite:

1.       First, you dream small dreams instead of God’s dreams.

2.       Second, power those dreams by yourself instead of with God’s power.

3.       Third, promote yourself instead of God.

Ok. That's it. You can sleep now, you’ve got the main point.

You know I work in computers. One of the most difficult types of failures to debug is called a “priority inversion” It is will a low-priority program grabs ahold of computer resources and then won’t let them go when a high-priority program needs them. Priority inversion has taken down the Mars Rover, it has taken down Windows, it has taken down banking systems, it has taken down my job performance…and let me tell you—priority inversion can take down your life. We let little dreams sabotage God’s dreams for us. We hold so tightly on to our resources that we are not free to grab ahold of God’s resources. We are so worried about our maintaining priority, that we never let God’s priority be promoted in our lives.

It can happen to us. It happened to Jesus’ best friends in the second half of the 9^th chapter of Luke’s biography of Jesus. Four times in twelve verses, his disciples will fail.  From a Bible point of view that’s not a very good ratio. So what happened?

Well, let’s take a look. Turn to Luke, 9^th chapter, starting in verse 37. Jesus is on his way down from the mountain where he was praying, and when he gets down, there is a huge crowd and lot of noise, because of the first of his disciple’s epic fails.

Fail #1: Want Our Plan (vs. 37-40)

Look at the next verse:

³⁷ The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. ³⁸ A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. ³⁹ A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. ⁴⁰ I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

Jesus’ disciples could not cast out a particular demon. Failure #1. The story only makes sense if you look back at the very start of chapter 9, where it says: “When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases.” (Luke 9:1) Notice the word “all”. Something has happened. Jesus is frustrated by this, and says so, and then heals the boy and restores the family.

Before we look further at this first failure, just a side comment about demons. When we read passages like this, we might wonder whether this young man’s problem was something like epilepsy and those in Jesus’ time just thought it was caused by a demon. Certainly Christians have been guilty of assigning demonic causes to ordinary events. But look carefully at verse 42. Luke (the author) is a doctor and he notes that Jesus “rebuked” the demon and then healed him. That is, there were two problems: a spiritual problem and a physical problem and Jesus recognized them both. Sometimes, in America, we are so fond of ‘natural’ causes, that we miss the spiritual side of things that many other cultures are aware of.

Why is Jesus frustrated? He mentions two keys: first, the disciples were a part of an unbelieving generation. That is, even though they had all of the power and authority they needed to do this job (see verse 1), and they had practice (see verse 2) and they had success (verse 6), they were still not confident that it would still work. Second, they were a part of the perverse generation. This means that their desires—their want-tos—their motives—were off-the-mark.

Now before we get too hard the disciples, what about us? Most of us aren’t demon experts. You have exactly enough strength to do everything God wants you to do tomorrow. You have exactly enough time to do everything God wants you to do tomorrow. But we hesitate because we doubt God. We procrastinate because all our energy, checkbook and slots in our calendar are taken by our plans, dreams and desires.  Our want-to is broken.

We fail when we want our plan, on our terms. We win when we humble ourselves, throw away our plan, and take God’s plan:

 “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” – 1 Peter 5:5b

Fail #2: Want To Appear Smart (vs. 44-45)

Let’s look at failure #2.

⁴² Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father.  ⁴³ While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, ⁴⁴ “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” ⁴⁵ But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

Luke tells us that while everyone was excited about the external miracles, Jesus repeats His message to the disciples about His suffering and death, and they still don’t get it. Jesus is trying to prepare them for the time when he is gone, and they must continue the job that he started. Their failure is not so much that they didn’t understand (what’s new?), but that (in verse 45) they were afraid to ask about what they didn’t understand. Afraid of what?

·         Maybe they were afraid to look dumb in front of the others.

·         Maybe they were afraid of Jesus, after he had just chewed them out.

·         Maybe they were afraid to hear the answer, because it might contradict what they wanted. They were afraid of the truth.

There are so many things that I don’t understand. There is such a huge gap between God’s understanding and my understanding. But we can ask.

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. – James 1:5

How often I have relied on this verse. God is the creator of good ideas. We just discover them. This is true in my job. It is true in my relationships. It is true in this church. The scariest thought to me is that God would put me through a season of drought of good ideas.

We do not fail for ignorance. We fail for holding on to ignorance and not asking God.

We fail when we want to appear smart. We succeed when realize and rely on God as the smart one.

Fail #3: Want To Appear Important (vs 46-48)

First, we fail when we know what to do but don’t do it.

Second, we fail when we don’t know what to do and don’t ask.

Let’s look at the third failure, found in verses 46-48:

⁴⁶ An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. ⁴⁷ Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. ⁴⁸ Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest.”

The third failure when we want to appear important. The disciples have their spiritual calculators out, punching in the numbers of converts, demons cast out, sick healed and prayers answered, trying to determine who has the highest score. But that misses the point.  We don’t win. God wins. And those points on the scoreboard? They are God’s. He draws people to himself. He rebukes demons. He cures sickness. He answers prayer. It is God’s grace from start to finish.

But then we ask…who got more grace? [sound of Jesus smacking his own forehead]

We even see this in the church.

Francis Chan a pastor from Simi Valley exploded onto the evangelical scene a few years ago when podcasts of sermons he gave at his flourishing, 4,000-member Southern California church went viral. But then in late 2010, he up and quit, saying, "I just want to disappear for a while." One thing that bothered him, he said, was that "even in my own church I heard the words 'Francis Chan' more than I heard the words, 'Holy Spirit.'[1]

Pastors don’t need to hear “What a great sermon!” They need to hear “What a great God!”

It happens to pastors, it happens to us.  We advertise our virtues on the job, so that others notice us. Only the beautiful pictures end up on FaceBook. You spend time with the cool people, so that you’ll at least look cool, too.

Instead of making the mission about me, we need to make the mission about God.  We don’t need to be important, we want God to be important. Here’s what I want to highlight:  lives changed, books written, relationships healed, communities revived, symphonies performed—by God. Does the stories you tell at work or school—or FaceBook--tell a story where you are the hero, or where God is the hero?

We fail when we want to appear important. We succeed when we want God to appear important.

Fail #4: Want To Appear Special (vs. 49-50)

This same attitude of “making the mission about me” led to the fourth failure, in verses 49-50:

⁴⁹ “Master,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” ⁵⁰ “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Here is the irony. The disciples notice a man driving out demons in Jesus’ name—the very same thing they failed to do back in verse 38—but he is succeeding and they want to stop him!

Why? “Because he is not one of us.” They seem to say: “if we fail, so should they!”  Spiritual envy.  “If at first we don’t succeed, neither should anyone else.”

They are embarrassed and outdone, so they won’t give any credit. The Bible says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15) but the Tim Lewis translation says: “Criticize those who rejoice; make fun of those who mourn.” Some of you have read my translation.

This happens to us. Do you thank God for another church’s growth, another believer’s growing life of faith, another marriage’s closeness or another co-workers promotion? Or does their success immediately cause a critical remark or thought in you?

The disciple’s motto was “Anyone who is not with us is against us.” But Jesus’ motto was “Anyone who is not against you is for you.” Jesus just redefined the win. The win is not what FCC does for God. The win is what FCC and Natomas and Lakeside and Ignite and Bayside and Cornerstone do and beyond, for God. The win is not what Tim does, or Max does or AZ does for God. The win is when God appears uniquely as God.

We fail when we want to appear special or unique. We succeed when we may God appear special and unique.

Conclusion

Imagine an app on your phone that decided that the phone exists for its benefit. That inverts your phone’s mission so that instead of serving you, it serves itself. What do we call an app like that? A virus.

The virus of selfishness and pride always tries to hijack our lives away from God and towards ourselves. The results are destructive. We fail because we take the life that God has given and repurpose it for goals for which it was never intended.  The Bible says:

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. – James 3:16

We know this to be true. The worst and ugliest moments of our lives are the results of our pride. But somehow we return again and again to pride’s destructive influence. It was only the perfect selfless act of Jesus, the innocent son of God given on the cross which can combat it and restore our broken soul.

·         We don’t need to appear smart, because God loves me.

·         We don’t need to appear important, because God loves me.

·         We don’t need to appear special, because God loves me.

·         We don’t need my plan, because God loves me.

“Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” – Romans 10:11b

Maybe you’ve realized that your 2013 new year’s resolutions were your plan, self-powered and self-promoting.  Maybe for 2013 you can ask God

1.       To follow God’s dreams and plans instead of yours.

2.       To power those dreams with God’s power instead of yours.

3.       To promote God’s reputation instead of yours.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen - Ephesians 3:20-21

That is the epic win.

 

Some material from the sermon “Getting It Wrong” by Steven Simala Grant, http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/getting-it-wrong-steven-simala-grant-sermon-on-faults-137584.asp?Page=1 retrieved on January 8, 2013

 

 

 

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[1] The Relentless Passion of Francis Chan, Mark Galli, Christianity Today, posted January 4, 2013. Retrieved on January 12, 2013

Sermon: What God Wants Us To Do This New Year (2 Chronicles 7:14): Pastor Tito Dizon

What GOD wants us to do this New Year! 2013

2 Chronicles 7:14 

 

Introduction

If there is any hope for America today it is in God. We sing "God Bless America", but it seems that many Americans have forsaken God. In many ways, our country has forsaken Him. He is no longer welcome in our schools. He is scoffed at and laughed about by many.

The Rising crime rate...
Danger of walking down the street esp… in the Capitol.
People Pre-occupied with sex.
No sin in having sex as long as you love.
Pornography and filth everywhere movies-stage-magazines.
Broken promises (divorce, presidential campaigns).
Marriage considered just a piece of paper.
Widespread use of alcohol and drugs…to legalize marijuana

The sin of neglect.

1. Neglect to worship Him.
2. Neglect to call upon Him.
3. Neglect to serve Him.

Sin of rejection-A step beyond neglect.
Another god enthroned = The national god of pleasure, materialism, and intellectualism.

THE FOLLY OF TREATING SYMPTOMS.
1.Let's form action committees. Crime study commissions.
2. Let’s have Drug abuse seminars.
3. Let’s organize “Citizens against filth.”

If you go to a doctor because of a headache caused by a brain tumor and he gives you aspirin so you won't feel the pain, you're not cured. The best way is to remove the cause- where it originates. Our hope lies in getting back to God! One of the greatest hindrances of that happening is Christians who are not consecrated to God. The more believers who get right with God, the better country we will have.

Read: 2 Chronicles 7:14 New International Version (NIV)

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

1. One of key words in this verse is the word "If". What’s the connotation of the “If” We’ll forget, not do it, or take for granted. Conditional.  We’ll be force only if urgent or see the importance

2. Who are God’s people?

A. Every person is a creation of God. The population of the world continues to increase, and is now over approx. 7 billion people. However, not all are God's people in the spiritual sense, because many hate Him, others reject Him, and still others simply ignore Him. Only those who have been born again have a relationship with God as child to his father. Jn:1:12

B. There is a vast difference between the true people of God and other people. God's people have trusted in Someone other than themselves. If you are not His people, you need to come to Jesus Christ, confess your sins and call on Him for your soul’s salvation. God's people seek His glory rather than their own.

3. God's people are serving God.
4. God's people are headed in a different direction.

All come to the point of making a decision whether to follow Christ or go their own way.

C. “Called by My Name” – Christians. This was a name given to the believers in Antioch. cf. Acts 11:26 Now this is the brightest badge that anyone can wear.  It means to be Christ-like. We must live up to the name. Alexander the Great found that one of his soldiers that carried the name of Alexander had proven to be a coward. He called the man to appear before him and instructed him to either live up to the name or change it! If we bear the name of Christ, the world expects more of us! Others may go certain places and do certain things and the world pays no attention to them, but if we carry the name of Christ... We bear His name before a world that does not know Him.

We must be careful how we live, how we act & what we say. We are to live and conduct ourselves like we are the children of God.

What Must We Do!

A. First, we are to humble ourselves: A Call To - Humility – WHAT IS THE NATIONAL SICKNESS? National Pride. This is not easy for the average American. Acknowledging His Lordship and headship in our lives.

We are a proud and boastful people. Our technology is far advanced, our standard of living is one of the highest, and our luxuries are out of this world.

We're a strong nation. Trying to leave God out.  Thinking we can live independently of Him.

The word “humble” means “to bend the knee; to bring down .” Pride will not allow the prideful person to bow their knee to the Lord!He wants us to bend the knee to His authority in our lives. God’s people need to realize that we were nothing when He found us; we would be nothing without Him and that we can accomplish nothing apart from His power in our lives, John 15:5.

Pride says, “I do not need God, I can make my own way. I know best. I call the shots in my life.” To humble ourselves means We are admitting our weakness and reaching out for His power. We are saying I can't, but you can! To admit that there is nothing good within us and that we can do no- thing without Him.

B. A Call To Prayer - This word means just what it says - pray! Prayer means: We approach & appeal to God; expect, & appropriate from God. What should we pray? We should pray that God would reveal to us our need for Him. It is, in essence, humility in action. Sees his own inability and recognizes God's ability. That God would reveal to us our sins against Him. That God would forgive us and cleanse us.

Pray in your homes, in your cars, at you jobs, in the prayer rooms, in the altars, Starbucks, Badminton courts, Panera Bread, everywhere. Prayerlessness is the first cousin to pride. Prayerlessness says, “I do not need to call on the Lord, I can make it just fine without His aid.” Prayerlessness relies on self and the resources self can produce and refuses to lean on Jesus alone.

We have to come to the place where we sacrifice our pride on God’s altar; declare our utter helplessness;

C. A Call To - "seeking His face". - my direction, guidance. This idea here is that we come to the place where God is the number one priority and desire of our heart! That is, nothing in life is more important, more precious or more needful to us than having God and all He has to offer.

The word “face” refers to “the countenance; to turn toward His direction.” This little phrase is a call for God’s people to stop looking for help and purpose in every other thing in life. They are called upon to make God their primary focus and their first priority.

If you had to be really honest today, what is the number one priority in your life? Is it your job? Is it your bank accounts or retirement? Is it your family? Is it your church? Is it your spouse? Is it your hobby? Is it the Lord? When God is our first priority, the things He cares about are the things we will care about. He wants us to love what He loves, hate what He hates and do what He does.

If you really want to know what your priorities are today then ask yourself three questions:

1. On what activity do you spend most of your time?
2. On what do you spend the bulk of your money?
3. On what do you focus your thoughts?

Look at where you go; what you do and where you spend your money. Do that and you will have a good idea of your priorities in life. Listen to what a couple of verses have said about this matter:

Psalm 42

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.

Do you get the picture? Seeking the Lord’s face is about wanting Him more than anything else in this world!

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When can I go and meet with God? It is about placing His face before you as the single most important motivator in your life. It is about taking time to spend time with Him in prayer and study of His word.  How devoted would you say that you were to seeking his face? Spending time w/ Him…Talking (Praying) & Reading His Word

We cannot look into the Lord's face and not be changed. 

Illustration: It Easy to forget what made us strong. At turn of 20th Century, 90% of public education Bible related. Today it is a crime to read Bible in public classroom, or to pray to God...but not a crime to blaspheme God. Outlaw the teachings of evolution instead of outlawing the Bible from our educational systems.

D. A Call To Purity - The phrase "turn from their wicked ways" is self explanatory!  God wants His people to stop their sinning! We are to examine our lives, identify anything that does not please the Lord or line up with His Bible, and we are to eliminate that from our lives!  As we humble ourselves, pray and seek His face, our sin will become increasingly clear.

We do not like words like repentance. They have the tendency to make us feel as though our lives are lacking in some area or the other. The fact is that people must be clean! Church people sin! They steal, they lie, they cheat; they commit adultery; they engage in sexual activity outside of marriage; they carry hate in their heart; they walk in pride; they walk in hypocrisy;

What we must do is stop defending our sin…and forsake it! We are saved by grace, but grace is never a license to sin! We need revival, but ... it will only come to those who get honest about their sin; who confess them; forsake them and turn to God with all their hearts.

The heart which has had its hunger satisfied by the sight of God's face will no longer want to hold on to the things that grieve our Heavenly Father. If we will meet the requirements, then we create an atmosphere in which we can experience some tremendous spiritual rewards from the hand of the Lord.

What God Will Do?

A.God Will Hear Us -“Then will I hear from Heaven” We all know that sin terminates the lines of communication between the believer and the Lord.

Psalm 66:18
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;

When we, God’s people, deal with this “if” situation; we are assured that God will hear us.

Psa. 84:11, “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory:no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

B. God also promises to "forgive our sins". Only God could forgive our sins and make us clean again. If we confess...He is faithful to forgive and to cleanse. cf. 1Jn. 1:9  We can be in close fellowship with Him. The ability to come into His presence, to worship Him, to sense His power, His peace, His joy and His presence is priceless!

C. God Will Heal Us – The word “heal” means “to stitch back together; to repair thoroughly.” They were warned that their sins would be answered by the Lord through drought. This would devastate their land and their population. However, the Lord's promise to them is that repentance equals rain. If they will open their hearts, He will in turn open the heavens.

In a sense, we are in the same situation today. Our homes, communities and nation have been devastated through a drought of spiritual blessings and power. I am tired of seeing what sin is doing to our homes, our churches and our nation. If real revival ever came to our lives, we would never be the same! It would change us and everything we touch too!

I know that this is a particular promise to the nation of Israel, but I see an application here for America. America is made up of individuals, and as individuals turn from their sin and seek God's face... Then we will begin to see healing come to our troubled land.

Conclusion

Change for the good will happen to us as individuals "if".  Everything hinges on us being in that place that God desires for us to abide in. If we will meet the requirements on our end, we can be sure that God will move on His end. While genuine change is always sovereign in its origin,  we can create an atmosphere where it becomes more likely.

In that atmosphere, while genuine revival is not a guaranteed event, at least on a corporate level, it will become a reality on a personal level!

1. Are you His people? If not you can be! Are you a Christian? Have you been born into the family of God? If so, are you living up to the name that you bear?

2. Are you willing to come before Him humble yourself, pray, seek His face and turn from your wicked ways? Are you willing to be and do whatever it takes to see real revival came to your life, your church, your family, your community and your nation?

Resources taken from the following people: David DeWitt, Robert J. Morgan, Raymond Perkins , Alan Carr, Chuck Smith & Don Robinson