“The Gift” (Isaiah 9:2-7)

 

Amazon Box

Do you recognize this box? Yes, it’s an Amazon box! Perhaps many of us received these boxes this past week. Every time a box comes to our home, it is a reminder that someone who lives far away in our family or from our friends is thinking of us and we are not alone. Or perhaps some of us have ordered gifts for our children or grandchildren, we had them come to our door, we put them under the Christmas tree, and we can’t wait for them to come and open those gifts on Christmas Day. It is a reminder that we are thinking of them and care for them.

The Gift

During the Christmas season, many of us exchange gifts. It is a reminder that God gave us the Gift. It is a reminder that God still gives us the Gift today.

Love came down at Christmas. Love came down today (tonight). The message of Christmas is this: “We are so lost, so dark, so unable to save ourselves, that nothing less than God himself could save us. So God came down. He came to our messy life and loved us just as we were. He became one of us. He became our sin. He lived to die to give us new life. And he invited us to be part of his family. He invited us to play an important role in his story. He showed all this great love for us, while we were still sinners.”

When we receive God’s gift, the Christ Child, our lives are transformed forever. At the first Christmas, Joseph’s life was changed, Mary’s life was changed, the shepherd’s lives were changed forever because they received the Christ Child, because they believed in the Christ Child. I still remember when I was wandering and walking in the dark in my college years. I knew I was lost, but I didn’t know what to do and where to start. I didn’t have strength to turn around. Although I tried hard to pull myself together, I just was not able to do it. But God was constantly pursuing me. He came to my broken and messy life. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” I was one of them. I saw the light, and my life was changed forever.

 

The Road

There are times when we wonder whether God cares for us. When we look around the world, we wonder whether God’s goodness prevails.

The Road is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy. The story begins with a father and his son who survive after the total destruction and end of the world. All plant life and animal life are extinct, only a few human survivors are left. The man and boy travel on a road to the coast, to the South, hoping that they can find safe haven. In their journey they encounter so many hardships and dangers. At the end of the story, they finally make it to the coast. But the father is fatally injured, dying. Because he is dying, he had planned to kill his son to protect him from greater suffering after he himself is gone. But when the time comes, he takes a leap of faith. He chooses to let his son live, trusting in the goodness of God—that somehow God will care for his son in spite of the horrific dangers of the world.[1]

On this Christmas Eve we are convinced that God’s goodness prevails. We are convinced that God’s light is greater than darkness. We are convinced that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from God’s love. Today (tonight) love came down.

 

Barbara’s Card

In early December I received a Christmas card from a 95-years-old former church member. Recently, she lost her husband after 69 years of marriage. She had heart surgery, knee surgery, hip surgery, and recently two teeth had to be pulled out. But still, in her card, she says, “I’m thankful that at 95 years of age I can remember at all and depend on and love my Lord. He sustains…” The other day I had a chance to talk to her on the phone. She said, “Pastor, I can’t imagine life without God and the church family. Every Monday morning six of us still get together. That keeps me going. God is good.”

One morning I was overwhelmed with the problems. I was almost paralyzed and unable to even to get out of bed. No strength, no desire to start the day. On that day my four-year-old daughter, Hannah, gave me this coloring paper that she had made at school. At that time she herself was having trouble adjusting to the school. The coloring paper simply said, “P is for Praying.” That moment I heard the inner voice saying, “Why worry? Why discouraged? You can pray!” That day she carried me out of bed and into life again. It’s God’s grace. It’s God’s light.

 

The Gift Is on the Way

Life is hard. But for those who received the Christ Child, they always carry the fire. We Christians always keep the light within us, and darkness can never extinguish it.

God’s gift (God’s presence, God’s reign, the Christ Child) is like a mustard seed. It’s like the life of a child. We can barely notice, barely see at first. But it grows and grows. It transforms us. In the meantime, we still suffer, we grieve, we die. But that’s not the end of the story.

Not only did God come down to be with us here on earth, but also he will take us his home. In Revelation 21-22, the Apostle John by the Spirit says this way: “Look, God's home is now among his people! He will live with us, and we will be his people. God himself will be with us. He will wipe every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain” (NLT).

At the first Christmas God gave the greatest gift to his people. On this Christmas Eve God still gives the greatest gift to us. So today, we hear and believe and proclaim this same Good News:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace… He will rule with justice and with righteousness from this time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will do this.”

May we receive God’s gift and believe in the Christ Child. May we come to him, abide in him, and walk with him always. Amen.   

 

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[1] Alan Noble, On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living (p. 102). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

“Christian Joy” (John 3:22-30)

Two Stories

In his sermon, “Don’t Waste Your Life,” Pastor John Piper shares two different stories with us.^[1] The first story goes like this. In his church two of the faithful church members, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards, who went to Cameroon as missionaries, had both been killed because of a car accident. Ruby was over eighty. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon. As people read this story in the paper, they said, “What a tragedy!” But no, that is not a tragedy. That is a glory. Then, Pastor John tells us the second story, what a tragedy is. He reads to us from the Reader’s Digest: “Bob and Penny… took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their thirty-foot trawler, playing softball and collecting shells.” Yes, there’s a time for relaxing and taking a vacation. But if the purpose of our life is the American Dream: a nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement, collecting shells, that’s a tragedy. If Bob and Penny’s life describes the last chapter of our life, what a tragic way to finish the last mile before entering the presence of Jesus who finished his last mile so differently. 

 

Two Joys

As we celebrate Jesus as our joy this morning, I want us to ask ourselves this question: “What is at the bottom of my joy?” “What is the feeder of my happiness?” All of our joys have a foundation. What does it mean by that? Let me give you an example. Once my daughter Grace said to me, “Dad, when I grow up, I want to be either pastor or teacher.” I said, “Great. But why do you want to be a pastor or teacher?” She said, “Because you teach and talk in front of many people, and they listen to you.” So I asked, “Why does that make you happy?” She replied, “Because you can tell them what to do and boss them around.” If we continue this “why – because” conversation, we get to the bottom of what makes us happy. At the bottom there are only two possibilities of our joy: making much of me, or making much of God. Self or God.

The default mode of human heart is self-centered, self-exalting, making much of self (cf. Jer 17:9). That’s why being “born again” is necessary. The new birth changes the default mode of our fallen heart. It changes the bottom of what makes us happy. It changes the foundation of our life.

 

Nicodemus

In John 3 we see a contrast between a person who has self at the bottom and a person who has God at the bottom – a contrast between Nicodemus and John the Baptist. But both of them have something in common: Their worlds are falling apart. They are going through a major crisis in their lives.

First, we meet Nicodemus. The Bible introduces Nicodemus as a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews (v. 1), the teacher of Israel (v. 9). In other words, he was serious about God. He was a good man, moral man. He was knowledgeable, experienced, respected, full of credentials. Seen from outside, he was a perfect example of how to live as God’s people. But in reality, Nicodemus’ inner world was falling apart. He felt miserable. He felt thirsty. He felt something was missing. Why? Because there was self at the bottom. Because self at the bottom could never satisfy his heart made for God. Blaise Pascal rightly said, “There is a God-shaped hole in the heart of every person which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”

So Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. And Jesus said to him, “You must be born again.” Here Jesus was saying, “Nicodemus, you need something new at the bottom. Now God is not at the bottom. You are at the bottom. You must exchange yourself at the bottom with God.” So, to be born again is to experience this exchange at the bottom – an exchanged life! It is no longer I at the bottom, but Christ is at the bottom.

 

John the Baptist

The second person we meet in John 3 is John the Baptist – the one who has God at the bottom of his joy. How do we know what’s at the bottom? Oftentimes, storms in life reveal what’s in there at the bottom. Right now John is going through a major crisis in his career. He was a rising star. Everyone in Israel was talking about him, and many of them came out to be baptized by him. But then, all of sudden a storm came. He saw his ministry begin to fade away as Jesus began his ministry. His disciples said, “Rabbi, your star is sinking. Your ministry is diminishing. All are going to Jesus, the one whom you testified. What are we going to do?” They were upset, anxious, jealous. But, John said to them, “I am not the Messiah. I am not the Bridegroom. I am the friend of the bridegroom, his ‘best man,’ who stands beside him and hears him, rejoicing greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30). So what’s at the bottom of his joy? Making much of Christ!

William Barclay tells us about the role of the bridegroom’s friend in Jesus’ time as follows[2]:

The “friend of the bridegroom” had a unique place at a Jewish wedding. He acted as the liaison between the bride and the bridegroom… And he had one special duty. It was his duty to guard the bridal chamber and to let no false lover in. He would only open the door when in the dark he heard the bridegroom’s voice and recognized it. When he heard the bridegroom’s voice he was glad and he let him in, and he went away rejoicing, for his task was completed.

The joy of the best man! The joy of making much of Christ, the Bridegroom! This is the new birth, new heart, new creation, new exchange! John the Baptist is new you, new me. When we are born again, myself being made much of ceases to be the bottom, and God becomes the bottom for the first time. God becomes the source of all our joys. Then, so naturally, we treasure him, savor him, enjoy making much of him!

 

Look to Jesus

Our Christian journey is a journey from making much of self to making much of God, a journey from a life of Nicodemus to a life of John the Baptist. It takes a miracle to change. We need the new birth. “How can this be?” “How can I be born again, born from above?” Nicodemus asked. And we ask today. Jesus answers, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (vv. 14-15). It is not enough to be educated. It is not enough to grow up in the church. It is not enough to do religious activity. We must look to Jesus, who gives a new foundation of joy.

Elizabeth Prentiss was a native of Maine. She was a pastor’s wife, and was very good at writing prose and poetry from a young age. But sadly, for much of her life she lived the life of a near invalid, she always suffered from chronic pain. To make things worse, she lost a child and shortly thereafter a second. In her diary Prentiss wrote, “Empty hands, a worn-out, exhausted body, and unutterable longings to flee from a world that has so many sharp experiences.” But it was then that she looked up to Jesus, and she was able to refocus her understanding of her own value and worth from doing to being – being with Christ, being in Christ. In the midst of grief and suffering, she found peace, rest, and joy[3]. That night she wrote the four stanzas of her hymn, and the second verse goes like this:

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;

Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best;

This all my prayer shall be:

More love, O Christ to Thee,

More love to Thee! More love to Thee!

 

John the Baptist became less and less. He was slipping off to the sidelines. Perhaps he struggled with self worth and purpose in life and questioned himself whether he was on the right track. Then he looked to Jesus. He saw Jesus exalted. And he was filled with joy and said to the whole world, “Look, look to Jesus, the Lamb of God! Look to Jesus, and you will live! Look to Jesus, and you will be filled with joy!”

In the same way, there are times when we wonder whether we are on the right track – especially when our health is failing, when our life is falling apart. But if Christ is exalted and glorified in and through our lives, we are on the right track. By this, we can rejoice. Yesterday I visited one of the church members who was going through the final hours. I was sitting at her bedside. All I could do was to help her to keep her eyes on Jesus. I visited another church member who recently lost his spouse, confused and overwhelmed with sorrow. I held his hand and prayed with him, encouraging him to look to Jesus, our exceeding joy (cf. Psalm 43:4).  

Looking to Jesus is not just the ABC of the Christian life but the A to Z of the Christian life. Everyone who looked to the snake on the pole lived. Everyone who looks up to Jesus on the cross lives. Nicodemus looked to Jesus and lived. John the Baptist looked to Jesus and lived. Let us look to Jesus – not just once, or twice. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus even when our world is falling apart. Then, Christ will become the bottom of our joy, and we will be filled with joy – joy of making much of Christ, saying, “More love, O Christ to Thee, More love to Thee!”

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[1] John Piper, “Don’t Waste Your Life,” https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/boasting-only-in-the-cross/excerpts/don-t-waste-your-life

[2] Kent Hughes, John: That You May Believe (Crossway, 1990), 93.

[3] “History of Hymns: More Love to Thee, O Christ,” https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-more-love-to-thee-o-christ

"Peace Impossible" (Mark 1:1-8)

 

Whose Side Are You On?

“If you are a real Christian, it’s impossible for you to be a Democrat,” one devout Christian woman said to me.

Many Republicans and Democrats see people in the other political party as closed-minded, dishonest, immoral, unintelligent and lazy. In 2022, 72% of Republicans said Democrats were more immoral, and 63% of Democrats said the same about Republicans.[1]

One day Jesus is sitting at a well and asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” In Jesus’ time, Jews and Samaritans did not associate with each other. The Samaritan woman had a binary worldview: “Whose side are you on? Are you in or are you out?”

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and saw a man standing before him with his sword in his hand. Joshua asked, “Are you for us, or for our enemies?” And the man said, “Neither, I have come as commander of the Lord’s Army” (Joshua 5:14). The natural tendency of humanity is an “either/or.” But Jesus’s is a “both/and” and a “neither/nor.” Jesus is neither conservative nor liberal, but he is also both. Pastor Tim Keller once said to young pastors, “For us preachers, the longer it takes people to figure out where we stand on politics, in all likelihood the more faithfully we are preaching Jesus.”[2]

One New Humanity

Once we had no peace with God. We were separated from God, we were hostile to God, we were out of it altogether. But Christ is our peace. Through the cross, he broke down the dividing wall of hostility. He made peace. And he made us one. He created one new humanity, new society, new community, that is, the Church, for us to taste and see God’s new reality – unity and peace.

 

The Church Is a Family

By Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, God gave birth to his church. Church is God’s idea. Church is God’s household. Church is family. God is our Father, and Jesus is our Brother. And we are all brothers and sisters. Let us think about the nature of family. We don’t get to choose our family. We don’t choose who will be our parents or siblings or uncles. Our family is chosen for us by God.

In the same way, we don’t choose our church family. We don’t choose one another. Instead, we are given to one another by our heavenly Father. Justin McRoberts says, “Being a Christian can sometimes feel like being in a family with a thousand drunk uncles.”[3] But we need to remember this: Like it or not, uncles are still our family. We don’t throw in the towel on the family. As members of God’s family, we are called to stick together through thick and thin.

The Church Is Not a Club

There is a significant difference between the church and a club. The club consists of “like-minded” people who have something in common – school, hometown, interest, age, politics, or jobs. The club members are kind of “natural friends.” So those who have different perspectives, cultures, and experiences find it difficult to be part of it. But the church is different. By design, God created the church to be made up of “natural enemies” we don’t naturally enjoy. D. A. Carson writes in his book, Love in Hard Places this way[4]:

[The church] is made up of natural enemies. What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together, not because they form a natural collocation, but because they have all been saved by Jesus Christ and owe him a common allegiance… In this light, they are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake.

I think Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham showed us a great example of loving natural enemies. They both came from very different backgrounds in terms of their theology, their culture, their experience. However, they saw amazingly positive things in each other’s ministry and expressed their appreciation to each other. This is back in the 50’s and 60’s when racial tensions ran high. Once Graham said to Martin Luther King, “I will stay in the stadium and make them integrated. And you go ahead on the street and do your thing.” Graham was well known for integrating his ministry and insisting on integrated crowds at many of his rallies. In his later years, but still Graham lamented, wishing he’d done more for the cause of racial equality. And he publicly repented and asked for forgiveness, even though he had done so much. While Graham and MLK were in Latin America together on a mission, Dr. King said, “Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful as it has been.”

If we are united because we are natural friends, we are not necessarily called “church.” But if we are united because we are family washed by the blood of Jesus Christ no matter what the differences, we are the church.

 

Prepare the Way

The local church is the classroom for learning how to get along in God’s family. The local church is the classroom where we can grow and become more like Christ.

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain” (Isaiah 40:3-5). Here the Prophet Isaiah by the Spirit is describing the natural state of the human heart. It’s uneven, crooked, ups and downs, rocky, rough, closed. So the very first step to prepare the coming of Christ is to repent – to fill in the valleys, smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks in our hearts.

Living a life together in the church community can help us to prepare the way and make the path of the heart straight and smooth, a highway for God. Especially, those who are different people, and difficult people are actually a gift from God. They are like a mirror, that shows our reality – how selfish, how loveless, how unforgiving we are. As we learn how to get along with them, practicing forgiveness and compassion, we become a person whose heart is filled with Christ’s love.

 

Our God Is Able

There is a gap between God’s reality and our reality. If we look around, it seems impossible to have unity and peace even in the church. But our God is able. When everything seems hopeless, John the Baptist proclaims, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:7-8).

Is anything too hard for God? With God nothing is impossible. The other day one of my mentors shared his faith journey with me. A few years ago, he went through life threatening crisis. He was very sick and on the verge of death. But miraculously he was recovered and given a second chance at life. He said, “Because of that experience, I changed from conservative to real Christian.”

If we focus on difficult people, difficult problems, difficult issues, debates will be endless, and the church will be divided. But if we focus on Jesus, exalting him, we will be united. From day one my prayer for our church is to be known as the “most loving place in town.” Being loving is more important than being right. Let us always ask ourselves, “What is the most loving thing I can do in this situation?” “How can I love my natural enemies?” Let us make every effort to keep the unity of the church by the power of the Spirit. The One who began a good work among us will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

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[1] "As Partisan Hostility Grows, Signs of Frustration With the Two-Party System," Pew Research Center, August 9, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/08/09/as-partisan-hostility-grows-signs-of-frustration-with-the-two-party-system/, quoted in “Transcending Toxic Polarization,” Mathew59.org.

[2] Scott Sauls, Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides (p. 4). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

[3] Ibid., 50.

[4] Ibid., 54. 

“Shocking Hope” (1 Cor 1:4-9)

Advent: Beginning with the End in Mind

Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent. The word “Advent” is from the Latin “Adventus,” which means “coming.” Advent is the beginning of a new church year. As we celebrate Advent, the coming of Christ, we proclaim the Good News to the world that Jesus is our hope, Jesus is our peace, Jesus is our joy, and Jesus is our love. But in real life, sometimes we wonder if this good news really makes a difference to us and to those who struggle. One of this week’s lectionary passages, 1 Corinthians 1, tells us how the good news of Jesus Christ can shape each of us individually and the church corporately.

Called

Paul’s greetings are surprisingly (almost shockingly) positive and encouraging. Looking at it from our perspective, the Corinthian church was a mess. It was made up of people from many different backgrounds, including Romans, Greeks, Orientals, and people from all over the world. It was a melting pot, and they didn’t get along at all. There was quarreling, cliques forming, wealthier people not eating or associating with poor people, and the list goes on. The Corinthian church was filled with the problems, and they were not repentant; instead, they were proud, rebellious, not teachable.

To this hopeless church, Paul begins his letter this way: “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…” (v. 2) How can he be so optimistic? If we take a look at our text carefully, then we can find how Christ-saturated Paul is. He refers to “Christ” 11 times in these 9 verses. His surprising encouragement is firmly grounded in Christ. Here Paul is essentially saying, “Look, Corinthian church, you may be falling apart at the seams, but the God who called you has secured your past, present, and future. He is holding you together.”[1]

On my wedding day, my father-in-law said to me, “Son, I trust the Holy Spirit in you.” Once in an interview Dallas Willard was asked about the challenges facing the church. Dr. Willard spent much of his life addressing the problem of why the church isn't raising up more people who look and act like Jesus. At the end of that two-hour interview, Willard was asked this pointed question: "When you look at how off track the church is, do you ever just throw up your hands in despair?" Willard smiled and said, "Never." "But how can you not?" the interviewer asked. "Because," he said, "I know Christ is the head of his church and he knows what he's doing."[2]

 

Equipped

After his greetings, Paul’s tone becomes even more positive, saying, “I give thanks to my God always for you… in every way you have been enriched in him… so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (vv. 4-7). Eugene Peterson’s Message Bible paraphrases verse 7 this way: “Just think--you don't need a thing, you've got it all! All God's gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale.” From our perspective, the Corinthian church is falling apart. From our perspective, our church seems to be lacking in many ways. But by the Spirit Paul is saying, “We’ve got it all because we have been secured, enriched, and sustained in Christ. We have Christ. He is our all in all”

In his book Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan tells us this truth in a creative way. In the story, the main character, “Christian,” saw an unquenchable fire against a wall. And he also saw a man clothed in black standing by and continually pouring water upon it, but the fire only burned brighter and hotter. And then the guide took Christian behind the wall to show him the reason for that. Here Christian saw another man with a vessel in his hand continually pouring oil upon the fire. Christian asked, “What does this mean?” The guide said, “This is Christ. He pours the oil of his grace to his children continually. So, the devil’s power cannot quench the fire in their heart.” We may be tempted, fall apart, and even shrink back at times, but we need to remember this. The risen Christ is within us through his Spirit. He is greater than the one who is in the world! (1 Jn 4:4) His grace is enough. So we are enough.  

 

Perfected

Paul continues. “He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless (perfected, glorified) on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (vv. 8-9). For Christians, hope can be defined as “sure confidence in God’s promises.” Paul puts his hope in God’s character – his goodness, his faithfulness, his strength. 

In Romans 8:29-30 Paul expounds God’s faithfulness this way: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” I would call these five verbs (foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified) the unbreakable chain of God’s grace. Here Paul speaks of our future glorification in the past tense. Why? Because it is so certain as if it were past, although it is still future. It is a so-called ‘prophetic past’ tense. James Denney writes that ‘the tense in the last word, “glorified” is amazing. It is the most daring anticipation of faith that even the New Testament contains.”[3] God himself is right alongside to keep us steady and on track until that day (cf. verse 8, Message).

 

God Is Faithful

The other day I visited some of our churches at a nursing home. I asked, “How was your day?” One member answered, “Uneventful.” Another member said, “Although I sleep more nowadays, I am still tired when I get up. I am always tired.” Where do we find hope?

Some of us in this room may wonder and doubt. “What if I give up? What if I suffer from dementia and stop believing? What if my children’s love for God grows cold and dies and they stop believing? What if our church falls apart and dies?” What ifs…? Where do we find hope?

The movie Greater is based on a true story about a life of Brandon Burlsworth, a walk-on college player who later became an NFL player. He was a devout Christian. He was killed when he was 22 because of a tragic car accident. His older brother, Marty, was struggling so much. He could not accept the loss. He could not understand why God would take away his brother. As preparations for the funeral begins, Brandon’s friends come and decorate a stadium with flower pots. To Marty, it looks all random and arbitrary and chaotic. But then, he is invited to come up by his mother and takes a look from the top. Then he is able to see the entire flowerpot decoration, saying, “WE TRUST.”

Our grief is great, but our God is greater. Our challenge is great, but our God is greater. Our suffering is great, but our God is greater. God will strengthen you, help you, and sustain you. God will make all things work together for good. God will keep you strong and on track to the end. God’s grace is always enough and active in our lives. God is faithful. The one who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it.

 

“Our _______________________ is great,

But God is greater.”

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[1] Stephen T. Um, 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (Preaching the Word) (p. 22). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

[2] Skye Jethani, Immeasurable: Reflections on the Soul of Ministry in the Age of Church, Inc. (Moody Publishers, 2017), 49.

[3] John Stott, The Message of Romans: God's Good News for the World (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 253.