sermon notes from the Vineyard Church of Milan 02/24/2012
video available at www.sundaystreams.com/go/MilanVineyard/ondemand
(special thanks to Dave Schmelzer and the Greater Boston Vineyard…this sermon series and the Leap of Faith User Manual is largely adapted from their original material)
One of the things God likes to do is – well, it’s a very technical theological term, but I’ll just say it, and then we can break it down together: God likes to “do stuff” for people. You need something done? It gives God pleasure, it seems, to DO it for you. He likes the whole range. Finding us parking spots, getting us there on time, healing our bodies, keeping our gas tank running on fumes, telling us where to look for lost books and earrings, restoring relationships, helping us get a job, setting us free from addiction, directing the wind to deposit 20% off coupons in the parking lot when we need them, overcoming racism, bringing peace between warring nations. The whole range.
I know some of that seems a little beneath him. Like he’s got better things to do than some of that. And especially better things to do than doing stuff for us. Sometimes we imagine God should have set things up in a more purely intellectual way. So that we’d worship God not because we actually needed or wanted any good stuff for ourselves out of the relationship, but just because we acknowledge he’s real or objectively great or something.
Because the way things stand, we’d be likely to worship him just because he does cool stuff for us. [pink Cadillac story…]
We might have one of two possible reactions to this. One, if you’ve been a Jesus follower for a while, you might feel a little conflicted about it, a little guilty. Like it’s a dirty secret about your faith. You imagine you’re faith is supposed to be all about this pure love for God, uncluttered by selfish motivations. And still you kind of feel like you identify with pink Cadillac faith a little too much, when you get right down to it. Secondly, if you’re exploring the idea of following Jesus from the outside, it can seem a bit like a scandal to you. So everyone seems a little hypocritical to you.
There’s really only one realistic way past this. We’ve got to get over it. This is the way God is. This is the way we are. And it actually works a lot better if we’d just accept that and trust that God has a good reason for relating to us this way. What a crazy thought, huh? Accept God for who he’s revealed himself to be – even if he’s not quite like we’d make him if we were making a God. And accept ourselves for who we’ve revealed ourselves to be – even if we’re not quite like we’d make ourselves if we were making ourselves.
Many of us, as you are if you’ve been using the User Manual for the Leap of Faith, have been praying the Psalms, so they’ve been on my mind a lot. There are some bracing things that stand out as you pray the psalms – not least among them are the connecting words.
I love the Lord because he has heard my voice, my supplications…
Psalm 116:1
Wouldn’t the song writer love God even if he didn’t hear and answer prayer?
For the LORD listens to the needy, 34 and His captives He has not despised. Let heaven and earth extol Him, 35 the seas and all that stirs within them.
For God will rescue Zion 36 and rebuild the towns of Judea, and they will dwell there and possess it.
Psalm 69
The more you read the whole bible, the more you realize that God is eager to DO things for people who trust him. The more you realize that that’s actually a fairly big deal for him.
Last week, we explored the idea that God’s one purpose on earth is making his name great. And that if we make that our focus in our lives, life just works better than making anything else our focus, or for that matter, living an unfocused life. Because of course, if God is all about making his name great, the way he does it is by doing great things for people who put their trust in him. Which makes sense, doesn’t it? If you’re a dad, the only way you get a great reputation as a dad is doing great stuff for your kids. Not doing everything they ask of course – I mean, sometimes they don’t ask for the best things; they’re kids after all – but by doing the important stuff they need from a dad, and by doing lots and lots of just plain old cool things for them because you love them.
We’re starting the second week of this experiment we’re calling “Leap of Faith.” I’m excited about it. At its core, the leap of faith is about finding out how true it is that God likes to do stuff for people who trust him. And the only way to find out is to trust him in specific ways and see what happens, right? So If it’s really true that God wants to do great stuff for us, how do we say “yes, I’m in!” to him and get this great stuff?
Well, it seems to boil down to this thing called “faith.” In Matthew 8, Jesus tells someone who wants something from him, “Let it be done to you according to your faith.” That’s why this 40 day experiment is called a leap of faith. Faith is the whole deal.
However, there is a key enemy to faith that I think it will be helpful to look at even at this early stage. Jesus talks about it in Mark 4:
35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Mark 4:35-41
Why are you so afraid? Seriously, Jesus? They are about to drown! What is Jesus driving at?
Jesus gets why they are afraid; he’s using his question to teach them about faith. He’s setting up fear in opposition to faith.
Why are you so afraid?
Do you still have no faith?
The disciples ask Jesus, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Hadn’t he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side?” Clearly, his purpose involves reaching the other side, not drowning. Which, in the midst of the storm, they seem to have forgotten. Or if they haven’t forgotten it, they sure don’t seem to be believing that’s what’s about to happen anymore. Their fear – and let’s be honest, it’s a very natural fear, supported by the way our brains are designed - has gotten in the way of their faith.
Somehow we tend to think doubt would be the enemy of faith. And I suppose there’s some truth to that. But it seems that a much more significant enemy to faith is fear. It’s one of two main things that keep us from life-altering faith. And the second is related to it, and goes back to last week – it’s a lack of focus on God’s one great purpose (which opens the door to fear when we lose focus on it).
[researchers who study how our brains work tell us that most of our actions are directed by a cognitive but pre-rational part of our brains that we can think of like an elephant. Really smart, really large, and generates a ton of momentum. And the more rational part of us is like a rider on that elephant, whose job it is to serve the elephant. And so doubt, often, is what our riders do when our elephants get scared, even by a mouse. Our elephants want to stop going where faith had first led them, and so our riders invent all kinds of doubts to support them in their fear. The smarter you are in fact, the more reasons your rider can come up with to support your elephants inclinations. So it may seem like doubt is the enemy of faith, but generally speaking, it starts with something else that gets our elephants going a different direction. And that something else is often fear. And most especially it’s fear when faith is what had gotten our elephants moving in the first place.]
If you read much fiction about various mythological gods, or ever play those god games where you rule over the world and have to get people to believe in you, you get a good picture about a conception of faith that’s fairly common. The way faith works in that worldview is that gods get their power from the faith of their followers. The more people who believe in them, the more power they have to do miracles and battle other gods. And so they like to do miracles (or fearsome things, for that matter), because it gets more people believing in them, which increases their power and helps them do more miracles, and so on and so forth.
Sometimes we have the same misconception about the real God. That somehow faith matters to him for his sake. But that’s not it - not really. Faith matters to him because he loves us. And faith – an active trust in him – is what opens the door to abundant life for us. Life that comes from him, full of adventure, significance, purpose, provision, life that totally fits who we are, that gives us joy – the kind of life Jesus has. And sure, he gets something out of it – he gets happy kids he gets to spend all day every day working alongside and enjoying. But again, his motivation even for that is that he loves us.
So Jesus isn’t upset with his disciples for their lack of faith because his nap got interrupted. He’s upset with them because their lack of faith is threatening to get in the way of the awesome life he is wanting to lead them into. On the other side of faith are the deepest dreams for our lives we’ve ever dreamt. Jesus says in Matthew 21: Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive. In other words, if you’re focused on God’s one great purpose on earth, and you come to God in prayer with faith, he’s going to come through for you. Because this is what abundant life is all about, this is what it looks like.
Isn’t that the life we want? It’s the life I want.
And only two things stand between us and a life of faith.
Fear, and a lack of focus.
I don’t think it’s too difficult a mystery why faith makes us scared. Faith forces us to believe in something we can’t see.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1
The challenge, of course, with faith is that even though we can’t see it, we have to act as if it’s already there.
This is the fundamental conflict in life. Do you roll over when you’re a baby? You desperately want to, but what will happen if you do? Do you take a step? What if you fall over? Do you get on the bus? Do you take the job? Do you pop the question? Do you buy the house? Do you have the baby? Everything we desire deeply requires us to act like it’s going to work out, one way or another, even though it hasn’t worked out yet and there are no guarantees. Or, fear can keep us from ever stepping out in faith, and then we are “safe” but completely lifeless.
Listen to this psalm from the Bible and see what you think of it…
He who dwells in the Most High’s shelter, 1
in the shadow of Shaddai lies at night—
I say of the LORD, “My refuge and bastion, 2
my God in whom I trust.”
For He will save you from the fowler’s snare, 3
from the disastrous plague.
4 With His pinion He shelters you,
and beneath His wings you take refuge,
a shield and a buckler, His truth.
5 You shall not fear from the terror of night
nor from the arrow that flies by day,
6 from the plague that stalks in darkness
nor from the scourge that rages at noon.
7 Though a thousand fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, you it will not reach.
8 You but look with your eyes,
and the wicked’s requital you see.
9 For you—the LORD is your refuge,
the Most High you have made your abode.
No harm will befall you, 10
nor affliction draw near to your tent.
For His messengers He charges for you 11
to guard you on all your ways.
On their palms they lift you up 12
lest your foot be bruised by a stone.
On lion and viper you tread, 13
you trample young lion and serpent.
“For Me he desired and I freed him. 14
I raised him high, for he has known My name.
He calls Me and I answer him, 15
I am with him in his straits.
I deliver him and grant him honor. 16
With length of days I shall sate him,
and show him my rescue.”
What do you think of all that? Do you really believe that:
9 For you—the LORD is your refuge,
the Most High you have made your abode.
No harm will befall you, 10
nor affliction draw near to your tent.
For His messengers He charges for you 11
to guard you on all your ways.
This is actually a sentiment that comes up a fair amount in the Bible. Here’s a passage from the new testament, quoting a psalm:
That’s why we can be cheerfully confident and say, “The Lord is helping me; I’m not going to be afraid; what can anyone do to me?”
Hebrews 13:6
Has a genuine follower of Jesus ever had harm befall them? Has a person full of faith ever been afflicted?
Obviously, they have. I sure have.
Yet also, obviously, we’re supposed to take these scriptures really seriously and take heart from them. Jesus himself commands us in Matthew 6 not to worry about anything.
The way I understand it is this. I think, if we are following Jesus, if we are trying to focus on God’s one great purpose on earth, we are supposed to believe that he’s right there with us if things get hairy. That he’s sent actual angels to be with us. And that, whatever happens, in the end it will work out great.
The strange upshot of these teachings of the Bible is that their perspective is that death is not the enemy. Fear, worry is the enemy. Fear is tons worse than death! Isn’t that interesting?
Listen to Paul in Romans 8…
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
31What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8
Or in Philippians…
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Philippians 4:6-7
This is why a central part of our leap of faith is asking God for some specific things. We know his one purpose is to make his name great among all people. And that his name, in this sense, is “The God who does awesome things for people who trust him.” You have been created to see God’s name made great through you. So, one of our first steps of faith is to ask him for things. Things for you because you think maybe they are things God wants to do for you. And things for your six, because you know God loves them. And things for your church, because God longs to bless his people.
4This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
1 John 5
Focusing our lives this way can seem a little out there. Look at the passage from Mark about the disciples and Jesus in the boat that’s about to sink. Jesus point to them basically seems to be: Which are you going to believe more? This massive storm or the fact that I said, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake?
Our lives cannot change in any meaningful way except as a result of faith. Every story of God making his name great in the world have come about as a result of faith. And this kind of faith boils down to believing utterly in the words of someone you can’t even see – Jesus.
So how can we do this? How can we overcome the fear and lack of focus that will keep us from receiving all the benefits of faith? I have four suggestions, four practical tips.
1. Believe by faith.
I mean this very simply. Put your trust in Jesus. Decide to become his follower. Trust him with your life. Say, OK, Jesus, you can count me as one of yours. I’m going to trust that my sins are forgiven. That you’re alive now even though you were killed on a cross, and that you’re up to something in the world and you’re inviting me to be part of it. And that as I work on doing what you tell me to do, you’ll take care of everything that matters in my life.
It takes a lot of faith to believe in him. A leap of faith. In fact, you may never find out if you actually believe in him until you make the leap by faith, and acknowledge that the thing you can’t see for sure yet if it’s in you, but you think it is, so you take a risk, and by faith you decide to believe. Only then will you find out if, in fact, you do.
2. Step out by faith.
Only one thing on earth will satisfy us, and that’s focusing our life around God’s one purpose on earth. It’s what we really want in life; it’s deeper than any of our dreams, though our dreams might not obviously point to that. Not yet, not at first.
So step out by getting in the game somehow. Maybe it starts by just praying for God to do something to make his name great, in a focused way. Maybe it means joining a team of people in a ministry in the church. Maybe it means planting a church. But somehow, take a step.
3. Give by faith.
Jesus says that serving God is in direct opposition to serving money. And it seems clear in the Bible that the greatest antidote to serving money is to give.
This is actually one of the things we know most about God himself. God himself is a giver. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son… And he brings up the subject constantly. Believe is in the Bible 272 times. Pray, 371. Love, 714. Give? 2162. You could argue that Jesus talked more about giving than about anything else. There are more promises in the Bible about how we use our money than about any other subject.
[for new guests: Can we make a deal that will make me feel better in talking about this crucial topic? Can we agree that, at least for these 40 days, if you give in response to this, you won’t give to US? I’d love you to get whatever benefit there is in this—and I think there’s massive benefit—without feeling a conflict of interest.]
Giving is a topic we’ll touch on regularly during this series, because it’s so central to seeing God’s blessing in our lives. And one of my goals for everyone who participates in this Lenten Leap of Faith is that you’ll stop worrying about money. And giving by faith is the only way that will ever happen.
And specifically I’m talking about giving by faith – not reason. In other words, giving because God tells you to, not because it seems like a reasonable or smart amount to give. Here’s how the prayer works. God, I want your name to be great. How much should I give to help that happen?
Then do it.
4. Rejoice by faith.
Here’s the bottom line. Only God can make your life work out. As you do all the things we’ve talked about, as you believe by faith and step out by faith and give by faith, it could all go terribly wrong.
None of my goals for you could happen. Same for my goals for the church. Same for the things I’m asking God to do for me and for the 6 people I’m praying for. Despair is right at the door, wanting to get in all the time.
God’s really going to have to pull this off. If anything good happens, it’s got to be you, God. But however things go, however well or poorly I do, I’m choosing to rejoice. Because it all rides on you and you’re good and you’re for us. I really believe that. So I rejoice.
You were created for a life of vibrant faith. And fear is the enemy of that. So stand with me, if you will, and let’s pray together about that.
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