November 25, 2007

Scripture Readings

Old Testament – Malachi 3:13-18  “You have said harsh things against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, “What have we said against you? You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.” Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. “They will be mine,” says the LORD Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

Epistle – 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5  Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.

Gospel – Luke 23:35-43   The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ?” Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”      

Sermon-

We’re going to begin today where we left off at our Thanksgiving Eve service. The Bible tells us to make sure that in your family and in your church you have little reminders of the things that God has done. At the Thanksgiving Eve service we talked about how the Israelites crossed over into the Promised Land and put up a pile of rocks, the theory being that future generations would look at that pile of rocks and say, “Hey, what’s that pile of rocks for?” And then parents could answer their kids, “That’s a reminder of the things that God has done for us, that we prayed and He delivered us from slavery in Egypt and brought us into the Promised Land.” As a reminder to us at the service last Wednesday evening, we had pots and pans all over the altar. They were there as a reminder of where we were just a year ago. When it would rain, the roof would leak, there would be drips all over the place and we had to put pots and pan all over the altar to catch the water. We don’t need that now, and we put the pots and pans on the altar to remind us of where we were and where God has brought us – no leaks! Thank you God!

We also pulled out the prayer board from our Week of Prayer last January and looked at all the things that were big-time concerns for us, all the things that we were uncertain about and needed help with to make this ministry survive; and we had written “done” behind all of them! With one exception – there is a “doing” behind the war and the world situation, but in many respects that is “done” also.   God said the world is always going to be in turmoil. From now until the Second Coming, there will always be wars and rumors of wars. And we know that God is “doing” something though those situations because during this year He directed us to various verses that tell how God is working His plan through those wars and through those difficulties. And, this past year God directed to what His plan is. His plan is revealed in that little known passage in John 5:19 where Jesus says, “Here’s the plan, just watch where God is working and join him!”

So we asked, where would God be working, what is God doing, what is the plan for our lives? And God directed us to Luke 24:46, 47 which says “Here’s the plan, that repentance (turning to God) and forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name.” So God has made His plan clear to us, He’s working to save souls, He’s working to draw people to Him. He uses the good times in life to do that, but that doesn’t draw too many people to Him because during the good times people think they can do it themselves, they don’t need God. So God uses the bad times; He uses the turmoil in the world and turmoil in our lives to draw people to Himself.   In many respects He’s still working through the war and the world situation and will continue to work until Christ’s Second Return. He will continue working to draw people to Him through the difficulties, the wars, and the turmoil in the world. So in effect we can write “done” after the war and the world situation because God did answer our prayer in that He let us know exactly what He’s doing.

When we talked about this last Wednesday evening, it was nice looking at everyone’s faces because almost everyone was smiling. They were thinking, “Wow! Look at what God has done!”   That brought us joy. When we looked at the Prayer Board we saw that God acted, God intervened, God did something. In mid-January we prayed, God intervened and helped us, and that brought us joy. In fact, the Bible tells us that joy and prayer are linked together. John 16:24 Jesus says, “Ask, that you may receive, that your joy may be full.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says “Be joyful always.” How can we be ‘joyful always’? 1 Thessalonians continues “Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances.”  God links joy and prayer are together.

So many times if something bad is going to happen, it happens in December. People still die in December, people still lose their jobs in December, people still get bad medical reports in December, the problems in life don’t take a break in December, There are still plenty of things to pray about in December and as we head into the Christmas season, we want joy. So how can we still have joy if things go wrong in December?   To see how we can keep our Christmas joy, today we’re going to talk about God’s “Done, But Not Yet” Principle. As an example, something that was on our Prayer Board from mid-January: a lady was having major car problems, the dealership had sold her a lemon and she was trying to have them make good on it. It was a big hassle and she asked in mid-January if we could pray on it. So we put her prayer request on the Prayer Board and prayed about it. The whole situation was finally resolved the end of April and we wrote “done” behind her prayer request. And it gave us joy when it was done. But, instead of having joy the end of April, wouldn’t it have been great if we could have had that joy mid-January? If we could have prayed about it and said, “OK, it’s done, it just hasn’t happened yet!” That would have been great!

Or, let’s take something else on the Prayer Board, the money to do ministry. As you may or may not remember, we had an $182,000 deficit last year. We put it on the Prayer Board because we needed to pray that God would intervene and provide for our needs through our members. We prayed that people would be faithful to God’s financial plan, that they would give their tithes, their 10%, and even an offering in addition, and know that God promises that when we follow His plan we will have more than we had before, that He will open up the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we won’t have room for it. In June, at the end of the financial year, all the bills were paid and that gave us joy! We said “Thank you God for providing for us.” But wouldn’t it have been great if, in mid-January, we could have had that same joy and said “It’s done, it just hasn’t happened yet!”

Another situation on the Prayer Board was students for the school. We were praying and praying and enrollment was still about where it had been last year. But then, all of a sudden at the end of summer, our enrollment was up thirty-five from the year before! We were rejoicing saying, “Wow, it’s great, God answered our prayer!” But wouldn’t it have been great if we could have had that joy in mid-January? We could have had eight more months of additional joy in our lives if we would have said “We prayed about enrollment and it’s done, but not yet.”

Now that may sound like a wacky concept, but it is actually in the Bible. The book of Numbers was written about 1200 years before Christ appeared. Numbers 24:17 is the passage that directed the Wise Men to Bethlehem. It is an oracle, a vision that says, “I see him (the Savior, the Messiah), but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will arise out of Israel.” The words are telling us, “I see him (the coming of the Savior); he’s there, but not yet.” God’s “Done, But Not Yet” Principle. In other words, everyone could have had the good news of great joy way back in 1200 BC that everyone had at the birth of the Savior. He was to come, but not yet!

Another example of God’s “Done, But Not Yet” Principle is from the Old Testament lesson, Malachi 3:13-18. Bad guys seem to be prospering and the people think God has forgotten about them. God says, “You will be rewarded for following the Lord. It’s not wasted effort; you just haven’t seen it yet. It’s done, but not yet.” And in the Gospel lesson, Luke 23. Jesus is dying on the cross and people are mourning. Would they have been mourning if He had been raised from the dead? No, they would be rejoicing. So, as He was dying, they have to say, “Wait a second, He’s as good as alive, but not yet. His resurrection is coming; it’s just three days off. It’s done, but not yet!” And, to the thief on the cross, Jesus said “Today you will be with me in paradise.” The guy is hanging on the cross, dying, but Jesus points out that his being in paradise is a done deal. It’s done, but not yet!

Or, one of my favorite passages, Ephesians 2:4-6, “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in our transgressions and sins. For it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the Heavenly realms.” Notice the verbs are in the  past tense – we haven’t died yet, but God is telling us that He has raised us up and seated us…the Bible tells us it’s a done deal. God’s “Done, But Not Yet” Principle!

God’s “Done, But Not Yet” Principle. You can have that same joy now even though you don’t see it. It’s done, but not yet. But be careful, because this only pertains to God’s promises. We want to avoid the type of thinking where we say “OK, I prayed that I would win the lottery and become a millionaire! It’s done, but not yet. Therefore, I’m going out this afternoon and spend a million dollars because I’m going to be a millionaire. It’s done, but not yet!” We want to avoid thinking like that, because God doesn’t promise that we would all be millionaires. When you act on God’s promises, you can say “Done!” and you can have joy now even though it has yet to happen.

Let’s apply this Principle to the Epistle Lesson, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5. Verse 1 says, “Finally brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may be spread rapidly and be honored just as it was with you.” Have you been praying that God’s Word would reach your unbelieving friends and relatives? As you’re praying that God’s Word would reach your relatives who rebel against God, who don’t care about God and His plan for their life, you can say, “It’s done, but not yet.” You can have joy now because God tells you to pray about it. It’s done, but not yet.

Verse 2 tells us to “Pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.” Not everyone has faith in God, not everyone is going to treat you right, not everyone has their actions motivated by the Holy Spirit. There are going to be evil and wicked men, they’re going to harangue you, they’re going to make you’re life miserable, they’re going to do various sins that tears down the quality of your life. They will do all sorts of atrocious things and you will suffer for it. But the Bible tells us to pray to be delivered from them. So it is done, but not yet! As you suffer because of the sins other people do to you, you can still have joy knowing that God has corrected it. It’s done, but not yet.

Verse 3 says “The Lord is faithful, he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” God will strengthen you and protect you from the devil and all those people that are motivated by him in this world. So have joy now. It’s done, but not yet.

And how will we survive until then? Verse 5 says, “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” Remember our Anti-Anxiety Exercise from last Sunday: look up, relax, look up, relax, look up, relax. We look up because that reminds us of God, directs our hearts into God’s love, and reminds us of Christ’s perseverance. No matter what happens, God loves you - He gave His Son to die for you. In Malachi 3:17 God says, “They will be mine.” He’s saying that you will be His. You are His now, He’s seated you at the right hand of God in the heavenly realm. It’s done, but not yet.  “In that day I will make up my treasured possession. I will spare them just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.” Jesus Christ is God’s Son and He served His Father perfectly. And God’s great love is shown in that He didn’t spare his own Son, He gave Him up, so there must have been something pretty important for God to give up His Son. And the important thing that prompted God to give up His Son for is YOU! That’s incredible. God didn’t spare his own Son and the reason was you, to pay for your sins. So you can relax and have joy. And we look up to remember Christ’s perseverance while hanging on the Cross. Christ knew that His resurrection was going to happen, it just hadn’t happened yet. That’s patience. He knew that He would be delivered from all those evil people that were going against him as He was being crucified. It was done, it just hadn’t happened yet.

So as you do the Anti-Anxiety Exercise, look up, relax, look up, relax, remember God’s great love, He didn’t even spare His Son for you; and remember Christ’s perseverance. That problem you had is done; you just haven’t seen it yet. God’s great “Done, But Not Yet” Principle. This will insure that no matter what happens over the next month, you will have Christmas joy. Because whatever comes to suck that joy out of your life, you can say, “I’ve taken it to God, He’s working on it. The problem is done, it just hasn’t happened yet!” And to that we say AMEN!