Rev. David Holwick ZA
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 6, 1995
Psalm 22:4-11
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I. How do you handle disappointments?
A. The faith of a stoic.
"These are just speed bumps on the highway of life."
- So said Andrew Wainrib, Los Angeles restaurant owner.
He lost a nightclub in the Rodney King verdict riots,
lost a Malibu home in the fires,
and lost a beachside cafe in the earthquake. #3097
B. Others cave in.
1) Paula Rinehart loses a baby.
a) Other losses and disappointments followed.
b) (divorce of parents, son had learning disabilities...)
2) She no longer felt in control of her life.
a) Off-balance feeling.
b) Felt blind-sided by unexpected circumstances.
3) Questions and doubts resulted.
a) Edged toward skepticism.
b) Abundant life seemed empty.
C. Faith needs disappointment to truly grow.
1) Don't let failures break you.
2) Use them to gain a deeper belief in God.
II. We all go through stages.
A. Adulthood is not climbing a hill and resting passively on top.
1) (Gail Sheehy's popular book "Passages")
2) Each "passage" is marked by crisis or a turning point.
a) Each holds the potential for new growth. [or failure]
b) Doubt and disappointment are part of the process.
B. New Testament characters went through passages of faith.
1) They spiral from illusion to disappointment to real hope.
a) John the Baptist was wracked by doubts.
b) Disciples from Emmaus are downcast, then behold
Jesus. Luke 24:17
2) They were failures at times, yet continued to follow God.
III. Early faith: A faith that is controllable.
A. Rudimentary faith yearns for predictability.
1) "If I do this then God will..."
2) Our faith or obedience obligates God to fulfill our desires.
a) Jesus' disciples had this kind of faith.
b) "Vending machine" faith.
3) A very natural stage of believing in God. Heb 11:6
B. This kind of faith cannot bear the full weight of life.
1) It is subtle way of conforming God to our own image.
One of Stacy Rinehart's seminary professors used to begin
his fall semester freshman class with this question:
"Students, I have one question for you.
What is God like?"
His students would get out their pencils, hem and haw, and
wait for the professor to dispense the prescribed answer.
But he outwaited them.
In desperation, one student after another would attempt to
fill the awkward pause.
"God is love, God is just, God is like this, God is like
that."
The professor would just sit there, unimpressed.
Finally, after they had exhausted everything they knew about
what God was like, he would lean over and say,
"Men and women, let me tell you something.
God is not like anything. He is His own standard.
And the tragedy is that you are going to build your little
theological boxes around what you think God is like.
Someday when you really need Him, you're going to race to
your box and open the lid, and He won't be in there."
God does not allow us to continue to reduce Him to a size
and shape we can manage.
He moves in our lives in ways that burst our categories and
overwhelm our limits.
When we realize He's bigger than anything we can get our
minds around we can begin to relax and trust Him.
Ironically, the crisis of disillusionment is what shakes our
preconceived notions and beckons us to deeper faith.
#3311
IV. Second passage: faith on the rocks.
A. The turn from faith to disappointment is usually unexpected.
1) We don't see the extent of our expectations until they are
not fulfilled.
2) Possible reactions:
a) Confusion and doubt.
b) Cynicism and apathy.
B. End of faith can hold potential for its true beginning.
1) Better than holding to faith that conforms God to us.
2) Disappointment can bring out the feelings in our faith.
a) Especially denied (negative) feelings.
b) Rinehart turns from faith, yet is revived by Ps 139:8,10.
3) God transcends our understanding - and control, leading us
to trust in him.
V. Final passage: Faith that overcomes.
A. Differences in faith's stages.
1) Early faith focuses on doctrine, knowledge, sure answers.
2) Later faith has room for mysteries.
a) We journey blind.
b) In Acts, Paul waded through failure and disappointment.
B. Mature faith is tested faith.
Story of a Chinese Christian who learned from adversity.
After Jesus' resurrection, the Lord told Peter that his death
would involve persecution.
Looking at John, Peter pouted, "Lord, what about him?"
In other words, "If I have to suffer, shouldn't he, too?"
Jesus answered him bluntly: "If I want him to remain alive
until I return, what is that to you?
You must follow me." John 21:22
Harry Lee painfully re-lived that truth.
Born into a well-to-do, well-educated Chinese family, Harry
seemed to have a comfortable future assured.
Then his father died when Harry was still a boy.
As the family's wealth evaporated, Harry, the oldest son, was
left with the responsibility for his mother and siblings.
From his teenage years Harry had loved and served the Lord.
He felt called to the ministry just at the time that communists
took over China.
For 12 frustrating years Harry tried to leave China to attend
seminary.
His close friends got out and established themselves in free
lands.
The woman he wanted to marry also left China.
But Harry stayed while the government brought increasing
pressure to close the church he led.
Then his brother, whom he'd led to Christ, died in prison.
Harry was arrested while trying to escape China and was given
11 years imprisonment on trumped-up charges.
Finally on his way to seminary at the age of 56, he wondered,
"Did I require chastisement?
Why did I have to suffer all that?"
Then, considering the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God,
he concluded,
"Maybe God wanted me in another school first, before seminary.
Maybe because I began as such a sheltered, privileged person,
he had to get me ready for something more...
to teach me faith, trust, peace, unaffected by circumstances."
#2858
C. Shift from a predictable God to one who holds us.
1) Our relationship with Him is more important than what he
does for us.
2) Trust is not an easy thing.
3) Someday we will see him face to face. 1 John 3:2
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