Welcome, we are glad that you here with us today.
In 2000, Adam and I had the honor of being Youth
Pastors…I know, right?!? Honor? But yes, it was an honor to see these kids grow
into the fullness of who God was calling them to be. To give you a little back story when we arrived
to the church the youth group had 5 kids…when we left that ministry after 4
years the youth group had grown to over 100 kids. Amazing! But even though our
ministry was growing there was “controversy” over what was happening. You see the HS began to do things in our
students… they began to move in the gifts, they became front row worshipers
(taking their shoes off and dancing…gasp) they became movers and shakers for
the kingdom…awesome, right? We thought so!
However, some of the elders in the church didn’t. You see we were in a
very conservative church where the gifts of the spirit were frowned upon and
worshiping with abandon was not ok. On a
warm summer Sunday, our journey at that church would soon change without our
knowledge. That following Monday, Adam
was called into a meeting and told his job was ending with no explanation other
than we don’t like what we are seeing.
We were told that we had to leave immediately and that we were to have
no contact with the kids or their families. We were also told to tell no one
(except for our families) what was happening and to leave quietly. In that moment, I cannot describe to you the
pain, the confusion and the frustration that was happening within us. As days
went by, there were more meetings, some without us and some with us. In one meeting, that I could be a part of, I
had brought forth some concerns that I had witnessed (like sharing information
that we were told not to share) from wives of elders in the church. After bringing this situation up, one of the
elders lunged across the table with his fists balled up ready to hit me, while
4 other elders held him back. After this
I walked out of the board room and collapsed to the ground in the doorway of
the church office, sobbing. The elders that were in the meeting proceeded,
literally, to step over me physically as if I was nothing… I was broken
hearted, in pain and helpless…and the question that crossed my mind was “God is
this you?” …
Pray…
As a church, we have been on a journey through
the book and movie, “The Shack”.
If you haven’t seen or read The Shack
yet, I urge you to. And if you have been
with us at all during this series you remember that after suffering a family
tragedy of losing his young daughter Missy, the main character, Mack Phillips,
spirals into a deep depression, causing him to question his innermost beliefs.
Facing a crisis of faith, he receives a mysterious letter from Papa urging him
to return to the abandoned shack where he once confirmed Missy’s death. Despite
his doubts, Mack journeys back to the shack and encounters Papa, along with the
rest of the trinity. Through this meeting, Mack finds important truths that
will transform his understanding of his tragedy and change his life forever. Though
this story is fictional, it is a rich and beautifully told story that provides
us with such a wonderful picture of who our Papa is.
Over the last 3 weeks as a church we have
uncovered:
The first week Di – God’s personal invitation to know Him and to “Meet him at the Shack”. We began to discover and ask the questions of what Shacks do I have in my own life.
The second week Clay – Did a great job of reminding us that Papa is especially fond of you and that he has never left you. He is always right beside you even during your pain.
And last week Putty – The father sees us as “Wild, Wonderful and Perfectly in Progress.” He doesn’t want us perfect because he takes delight in molding and shaping us through our messiness.
The first week Di – God’s personal invitation to know Him and to “Meet him at the Shack”. We began to discover and ask the questions of what Shacks do I have in my own life.
The second week Clay – Did a great job of reminding us that Papa is especially fond of you and that he has never left you. He is always right beside you even during your pain.
And last week Putty – The father sees us as “Wild, Wonderful and Perfectly in Progress.” He doesn’t want us perfect because he takes delight in molding and shaping us through our messiness.
Last week our clip was where Mack has just come
from working in a wild and wonderful garden alongside Sarayu. Later, after his encounter with her he runs
into Jesus, who says He’d like to show Mack something on the other side of the
lake. Jesus needs to finish something up first, so he encourages Mack to go on
ahead in the rowboat. Mack does. It’s a beautiful setting, and Mack seems to be
relaxing and enjoying it—briefly. Let’s watch.
SHOW VIDEO CLIP
*“Why are you doing this to me?” Have you ever asked God that question?
Those words come so quickly and immediately, to
Mack. It has become his default. Pain is real and sometimes time debilitating
and just watching Mack’s struggle is enough to cause anxiety and doubt, isn’t
it? It is so easy, and so natural, to become overwhelmed by our pain and
circumstances. They are real and powerful, and they threaten us.
So, what about us? Maybe we have faced or are
facing some hardships in our lives that have led us to a similar response: “Why
are you doing this to me?” Maybe that has become our default, too.
You see in this scene Mack wants to blame Jesus:
“Why are you doing this to me? . . . You told me to come out here.”
But did you catch Jesus’s response? “This isn’t Me. . . . Mack, this is
happening inside you. You’re letting it consume you, and you don’t have to.”
Such a powerful statement…You’re letting it consume you and you don’t have to. How many times have we let our past consume
our present? We push down our pain and problems and try to avoid them, hoping
they’ll just go away on their own. Or we
play the blame game with God and reject his offers to heal us to receive
freedom from our past.
Let’s look at what scripture has to say about
how the Father feels about our past:
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 New Living Translation (NLT)
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 New Living Translation (NLT)
16 But whenever someone turns
to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the
Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil
removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the
Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious
image.
1. Freedom in Christ. If Christ is in us, why do we choose to live
in our pain? If Christ is
freedom, then freedom is already living inside of us.
*Jesus says “Look at Me.”
“Just take a deep breath and listen to My voice.”
“Just keep your eyes on Me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Pain is so real that panic sets in and we refuse to look, just like Mack. But scripture has words of encouragement for us:
John 16:33 New Living
Translation (NLT)
33 I have told you all this so
that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.
But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
1. The Father never tells us that we won’t have trouble or pains as a
follower, BUT he does say take heart for I have overcome the world. And because the world is his and we are in
the world as his…we have peace that is him.
John 14:27 New Living
Translation (NLT)
27 “I am leaving you with a
gift—peace of mind and heart. And
the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or
afraid.
1. His peace is a gift that the world cannot give...
Ok, but
how do you have this peace? Let’s look at what the psalmist had to say to sum
it up:
Psalm 121
A song for pilgrims ascending to
Jerusalem.
1 I look up to the mountains—
does my help come from there?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
does my help come from there?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
3 He will not let you
stumble;
the one who watches over you will not slumber.
4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel
never slumbers or sleeps.
the one who watches over you will not slumber.
4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel
never slumbers or sleeps.
5 The Lord himself watches over you!
The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
6 The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon at night.
The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
6 The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon at night.
7 The Lord keeps you from all harm
and watches over your life.
8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever.
and watches over your life.
8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever.
These are powerful promises from the New and Old Testament. A sign that our Papa’s words have never changed. They did not change in Mack’s situation and they do not change in our own situations. God is calling to us as plainly as he called to Mack in the movie, “Look at Me”, “Just look at Me”. Your moments of brokenness will be the Father’s greatest victory in your life. Your stories matter because they are proof of what the Father can do when we just look at Him.
So, how do we get beyond the boat? Let’s see what
happens to Mack after he decides to look at Jesus:
SHOW VIDEO CLIP
You
know, this scene on the water with Mack can’t help but remind me of an
experience that Peter had in a boat on a lake. We can find it in Matthew 14,
but you probably know the story well. Jesus has already had a busy day feeding
the 5,000 and everyone was tired...we are going to pick up verse 22
Read
Matthew 14:22-33 - Jesus
Walks on Water
22 Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back
into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people
home. 23 After
sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell
while he was there alone.
24 Meanwhile,
the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen,
and they were fighting heavy waves. 25 About three o’clock in the morning[b] Jesus came toward them,
walking on the water. 26 When
the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear,
they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”
28 Then
Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking
on the water.”
29 “Yes,
come,” Jesus said.
So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the
water toward Jesus.30 But when he saw the strong[d] wind and the waves, he was
terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
31 Jesus
immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith, “Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”
32 When
they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!”
they exclaimed.
Peter somehow knew that the safest place he
could be was with Jesus or he was just trying to escape his fear by facing it
head-on, but to Peter’s credit, he went. Peter climbed over the side of the
boat and took a step on the water toward Jesus. Things started off just fine
and there was Peter, standing on top of the stormy water. But then he started
looking at the wind and the chaos around him, and he began to sink. Peter’s
fear overtook him after all, and as the water closed in around him, Peter cried
out for Jesus to save him. And Jesus, “immediately reached out and grabbed him”
1. The key word is immediately…he
didn’t tell Peter to wait, he didn’t sit back and watch him suffer through his
fear and pain, He WAS immediate.
2. The Father is immediate…there
was no waiting, just saving. Just like
an earthly parent when our child falls from their bike or falls and scraps
their knee we run to them scooping them up to take care of the pain.
When we
recalibrate our focus away from the blame of “Why are you doing this to me?” to
the trust of “Look at Me,” we find that God has even more in store. We can begin to see the Father in our future
rather the pains in our past.
Let’s revisit Adam and my story for a
moment. Was the pain of losing
relationships and the ministry we built painful? Or being hurt by those you
trusted in leadership above you. Yes, very and times very debilitating. Almost to the point I never wanted to step
foot in a church again to be a part of formal ministry. Did I cry out and ask the Father why this was
happening to us, and is this you God? Yes, I did. Did the Father answer me…Yes, he did! Do you
know what he said? “LOOK AT ME!” Was it a journey of healing after that, yes it
was! Was the process hard? Yes!! But if I focused on him and kept my eyes where
they were supposed to be I was ok. And
because we CHOSE to live in a place of eyes locked and no looking back…a lot of
those relationships that were destroyed are now restored. And we are still in ministry J
You see…God is always calling us to Himself.
Relationship lies at the essence of who He is.
The trinity is never apart, but always working together and in
relationship with one another. And just like them relationship with Him is the
heart of how we are meant to live this life.
Our boats feel safe and sometimes it feels like
the only means we have of surviving. However, that’s only true if all that we
have is our own ability and our own limitations…but the Father promises to
never abandon us and that he is in the middle of it all:
Deuteronomy 31:6 New Living
Translation (NLT)
6 So be strong and
courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go
ahead of you. He will neither fail you
nor abandon you.”
So, what 3 practical steps can you walk away with today:
1. Stop – Don’t allow yourself to live in a place where all you are
seeing is your pain
2.
Focus – Get yourself
to a place where you can hear Him say: “Just take a deep breath and listen to My voice, keep your
eyes on Me, because I am not going anywhere.” Lock eyes with the Father and
don’t turn back.
3.
Move – Make an active choice to get
out your boat. You are not made to stay
there because it is not the Father best for you. God wants to show you the
reality you can experience together in relationship with Him.
Relationship is where we can move beyond “Why
are you doing this to me?” to those “Look at me” moments. We move from a question to a statement. In
the face of the brokenness, despite our pain and suffering and problems, we KNOW
God’s heart and his heart is for us.
