My sermon in a barn: It's not me

I posted this on the church website that I'm trying to get going - thought it might be worthwhile here. A little lengthy, but certainly an edifying journey. I've pasted it below. . .

My wife's family had a family reunion this past weekend. This reunion occurs every other year, and it is a major event. It lasts for 3 days, and this year we had 70 people attend. Some people complain about family reunions - not this family. And I have loved being a part of it the past several years.

The reunion ends on Sunday morning with church in the barn. The reunion is on my in-law's farm, and we go up to the hay mow and have church on Sunday morning. We carry chairs, an electric keyboard, hymnals, and whatever else is needed up there. Two years ago, my father-in-law used the bucket of his tractor as a makeshift "elevator" up to the window of the hay mow for those unable to climb the steps. It's pretty crazy, and no one would miss it for the world. It's very special.

A few months ago, Emily's parents asked if I would give the message. It was a very intimidating task, but one I took up. The service went very well, and I hope my message was worthwhile. God certainly was with us in that barn, and I thank Him for allowing us the opportunity to worship together.

For anyone interested, I've included the sermon below:

The Scripture text read before the message was Philippians 4:1, 4:4 – 9, but the message was based on Philippians 3:17 – 4:9.

As I was thinking about what to talk about today, the most intimidating thing is that I’ve got so much less life experience than most of the people here. What do I possibly have to offer you in terms of words of wisdom? In just about everyone’s job or experience, you’ve encountered some young hot shot who tried to impart all their wisdom on you about how to do things better. Nobody likes that. I don’t want to be that. But I also couldn’t miss the opportunity to talk about God this morning. So what I’ve come up with is less of me saying let me show you how to do things, and more of me saying, “Look at what I’ve done – and learn from my mistakes.”

As I was writing my notes for this, I kept referring to my theme as a thesis statement. As a teacher of writing, I know all things must start with a statement that will guide the speech, and I want to start with that. Once we get past that, we can talk about how I’ve often missed this truth, and why this truth is so important.

There are two parts to my thesis statement, and I don’t think many of you will debate the first part. Most people in the world don’t debate the first part. My thesis statement begins with the words, “There is a God.” That’s the easy part. The second part is more complicated. It’s the part I’ve gotten wrong over and over and over, and every time I do I limit the possibilities in my life – the professional possibilities, the relational possibilities, and mostly the possibility for immense joy. The second part is simply this – “It’s not me.” So there it is: There is a God, and it’s not me. The question is, do I embrace that and live accordingly, or do I ignore it? And which is a better way to live?

The writer Blaise Pascal wrote this:
“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The case of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man.”

This is one of the truest statements I’ve ever read. Think about it. The motivation for everything we do is our own happiness. Some of you work very hard for your children’s happiness, but that’s because it makes you happy. Some of you hate your job, but you work hard at it to make money with the hope that you can use that money to bring you more happiness by paying the bills, taking care of your family, taking a trip, or seeing a movie. Some of you here even find happiness by voluntarily sitting on some frozen piece of lake in the dead of winter looking for fish, which I have yet to understand. We all want happiness and work endlessly to get it. The problem is that people like me shortchange themselves over and over and over again.

We shortchange ourselves every time we forget that there is a God, and it’s not me. You simply cannot have the same level of joy when you forget that you’re not God. You can certainly have brief moments of pleasure; but you will be missing deep, intense, lasting joy. Why would we ever settle for the brief?

This happens to me because so often, my focus is constantly on me. And the difficult and ugly truth of the matter is that when my focus is on me instead of God, I have made myself a God. My actions say, “There is a God, and it’s me.” For instance, there were a lot of days this spring when I struggled. When the alarm clock went off, I began the day grumpy. There were many questionable decisions made by the leadership of the high school where I work. I also felt I had been treated unfairly and disrespectfully in some ways. And when I woke up in the morning, I began by counting the ways I thought I had been wronged, and I then moved to predicting what moronic decisions would get made that day by those in charge. Needless to say, my day didn’t have a chance to be successful from the minute my alarm clock went off. And the reason is because I didn’t see God. I saw myself. I believed in God, but my actions and attitude showed that I believed that it was me. And it’s a sad mistake I’ve made over and over and over again in my life.

In the first book of Proverbs, Solomon writes, “Widsom calls aloud outside. . . ‘How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?’” It hurts me to read that. How long will I love simplicity, love seeing only myself, attempt to live in a way that ignores that God exists? And when watching the rest of the world, I see this is a common problem. Watch people’s actions on a daily basis, and they seem to constantly be saying, “Look at me! Look at what I did!” They don’t do this because it feels great, but because it doesn’t. They have to continue to search for happiness, and they have yet to look elsewhere other than the empty, self-serving, thirst for attention. This is silly. We don’t need attention from others. God clearly notices us – and that’s easy to see when we look around at all the gifts he’s given us instead of how other people in the world have wronged us.

There is a God, and it’s not me. When you recognize that, you live differently. You live better. One way you live better is in your relationship with others.

Oswald Chambers is another of my favorite authors, and he wrote this: “If we believe in Jesus Christ we will determine to make our relationship to men what Jesus Christ was to us.” The quote doesn’t say that if we believe in Christ, we should act like Christ to other men. It says we will. What do your actions to others say about your belief in God?

If I believe that there is a God, and it’s not me; then I won’t let pride and anger get in the way of my relationships with others. I will love them sacrificially. Those we love the most often hurt us the most. Do you act like Christ in that situation, or do you act like you are God? When you believe that there is a God, and it’s not me, you quit counting up the number of things you’ve done for your spouse or your significant other or your friend today, and instead you ask yourself what else you can do to love them sacrificially. You don’t seek to avoid the person at work who annoys you, because you know that you can’t show them the love of God if you’re nowhere near them. And you don’t hold long grudges, regardless of how badly you were treated. Instead you take the first step towards reconciliation. The happiness we all seek will be multiplied many times over if we will just take this approach.

That doesn’t make confrontation with others bad. That doesn’t make arguments bad. Those happen, and they are necessary. The question when confrontation occurs, however, is one of motive. In this argument, is my goal to help the individual and our relationship, or is my goal to prove to them that I am God?

Another way you live better is when hard times come. And hard times most definitely come. I don’t have to tell you guys that. And hard times don’t change the fact that there is a God, and it’s not me. God is not in the business of providing my self-indulgent pleasures. He wants way more for me than that. Following God does not guarantee comfort, because in the end comfort will provide us with less joy and will convince us further that we ourselves are God.

Oswald Chambers wrote that suffering or real loss often puts us face to face with God. This is because the world is a tragic place, and evil does exist. That’s why we need God, the only source of redemption in this fallen world. We forget that in comfortable times, unfortunately. Later Chambers includes this quote: “When a man is at his wits’ end it is not a cowardly thing to pray, it is the only way he can get in touch with reality.” When I make myself a God when difficult times come, I complain to whoever will listen. I beat my brains out trying to figure out how I’ll make it, or what I can do to fix things. I give myself an excuse to treat others poorly. When I focus on God, I get God’s peace. I get to feel close to the One Sovereign Creator of all the world. It seems like a simple choice.

I said earlier that suffering puts us face to face with God. Frankly, so does celebration. God felt celebration to be so important that there are several commanded celebrations in the Bible. Events just like this one – this weekend. Celebrations like this give us some of the most memorable pictures of God. This has been a great weekend. The question is, do you see it as just that – a great weekend; or do you see God? Do you see just one weekend out of your life that happened to be positive and fun and full of good food and nice conversation? Or will you remember seeing the face of God and feeling his embrace of blessings each and every moment you got to be here and celebrate this family? Celebrations are wonderful. But you limit the immense joy available to you if you forget that there is a God, and it’s not me. You limit the experience when you forget that you were given this experience so that you might see Him.

Since we were little kids, we’ve been taught that sin is bad, that we should avoid sin. That instruction is usually followed by a list of “don’ts.” What people tend to not realize, though, is that sin isn’t wrong doing. Sin is wrong being. Regardless of what you do or don’t do, sin is doing without God. Regardless how good an act, it is sin if we forget that we aren’t God. Regardless how many “bad” things we don’t do, we have not avoided sin if we live a shallow, self-serving life.

The world screams to us that this is not true, that we are our own gods. The world tells us to serve ourselves and buy as much self-focused joy as possible. There is a huge market for this message because the same people remain unsatisfied by the same things over and over and over. They, and I, often forget where true joy comes from.

My challenge to myself, then, and to you today, is to live each day with actions that exhibit your true belief. And if there is a God that isn’t me, then each day is a gift. It may be and most likely will be difficult at times, but it is a gift. And it is an opportunity. No one, at the end of a day, says, “Man, it felt good being stagnant and dull today. I was lucky to do without God today. It was wonderful to just survive! I’m so happy! I’m so glad I’m holding grudges. I’m so glad I feel wronged. I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.” Those people don’t sing. They don’t sing “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!” The don’t sing, “It is well, it is well, with my soul.” They don’t sing “Great is they faithfulness, Oh God my Father. . . Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” And they don’t sing it because they don’t have it. There is no strength for today, and there is no hope for tomorrow.

When we look to God each day, we get to sing it. And it brings tears to our eyes, because we know it’s true. When we do the things Paul suggested in his letter to the Phillipians – rejoice in the Lord always, let your gentleness be known, be anxious for nothing, pray, focus on what is good – then we get what he promised: the peace of God.

Look around this room. Look at the quality of people we have in here. It’s not by accident. So many of them are what they are because their actions are a daily testimony to the fact that there is a God, and it’s not them. When I’m with this family, with these people, I get to see God. Why would we choose to be anything less?

Thank you for listening today, and thank you to the many of you who show me the love of God every time I see you.