“Innocence” By Chris Ulrich August 19th,
2018
Amen, Amen. Thank you, you may be seated. From the Book of
Matthew,
chapter eighteen, verses one through six: Matthew 18:1-6
At the same
time came the
disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven? And
Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
And
said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as
little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever
therefore
shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the
kingdom
of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name
receiveth
me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in
me, it
were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he
were drowned in the depth of the sea. Thanks, Mike. So, verse three is our theme verse for this
month, the month
that we celebrate the youth. But, I felt that reading the entire
passage, in its
entirety, would give us a little bit more about the backstory. So,
there was a
statement I remember hearing, about twenty-five years ago, and it went
something like this, “The older I get, and the more I know, the more I
realize
how much more I don't know.” I'm sure it's something others of us have
heard,
before. And, I'm sure it's something that other people have said, and
used that
expression before. But, it resonated with me, it stayed with me, it
made me
realize that there is a lot to know, there's a lot of information, and,
there's
a lot of things that we’re never going to know. And, it makes sense, of
course,
if we stop and think about it, and realize that the more we do learn
about
different things, whether it's history, or math, or language, or
engineering,
or medicine, or maintenance, we realize how much more there is.
Knowledge and information
is limitless. And, yet, no matter how hard we try, we’ll never know all
there
is to know. I'd like to ask if you could bow your heads in a word of
prayer with
me. God, we come to You right now, God, and ask You for Your
guidance, and Your
direction, and for wisdom, Lord God, and the direction of the message
today, as
we hear what You have in store for us, Lord God, and I also want to
make mention
about our sister Lorraine, who was brought to the emergency room down
in
Chicago, and Laygoze’s there with her, at her side, Lord God, but we
ask that You,
God would be with them Lord God, she's had a bout with cancer, God, in
the past
couple of years, Lord God, but she's been strong, and she’s been an
inspiration
to many of us, Lord God, we just ask You to be right there in the room
with
them, Lord God, and give her many more years, Lord God. And, just give
her
strength, give them both encouragement, Lord God, and let them know
that You're
with them, and let them know that we're praying for them, Lord God. We
just
want to ask, God, for You to guide us and direct us, God, that we’d
hear what You
have for us to have in this message, Lord God. Thank You God, for Your
understanding. Thank You, God, for teaching us. And, thank You, God,
for
knowing Your truth. We just want to ask these things in Your name,
Jesus. Amen. So, I was on a trip about five years ago, and one of the
places that we
were planning on passing through was in southern California. It was a
place
called the Joshua Tree Monument. Has anybody ever heard of that before?
Okay. A
few of us have. I had never seen it before, but the person I was
traveling
with, Jim Bailey, had never seen it himself. We’d only seen pictures of
it, we’d
only heard a little bit about it. So, we weren't really that familiar
with it,
So, we looked on the map, and, on the map, it just says, “Joshua Tree
Monument.”
So, we were of the understanding that our plan was to eventually get to
the
tree. We were going to see this magnificent tree, or whatever it was
that we
thought, so, keep in mind, again, that we'd only seen it in pictures,
and we're
thinking, the whole time, that it's just one tree, and, even though it
didn't
resemble anything that's around here, as far as it being that type of
climate,
we figured, “Well, it's worth a trip, I mean, if they’ve dedicated an
entire
national park.” So, as we were driving
through this area, which is pretty large, we started realizing that
this
resembles—all these trees that we’re starting to see resemble this one
tree
that we’re looking for. And, then we started realizing that there's
hundreds,
and thousands, and tens of thousands, and, I don't know, Pete, if
you've got a
little picture, that…
But this is a Joshua tree, and, as you can see, there's
several more in
the background, there. As we're driving through—this was daytime—and,
thinking,
okay, well, we’ll eventually get to the monument. But we're realizing,
there's
a lot more to this. There's a lot more than just one location. And, to
put it
in perspective, it would be as though we were thinking, “Well, let's
get to
Mount Rushmore,” and then, all of the sudden, you see thousands of
Mount Rushmore’s.
or, “Let's try to get to Pike’s Peak,” and you see all these mountains
that are
Pike’s Peak. Or Grand Canyons. But there's only one Mount Rushmore,
there's
only one Grand Canyon, there's only one Pike’s Peak. So, we figured we
would
change the name of it to Joshua Trees, based on the many that we did
see. So,
thinking about that trip, and, as I was preparing this message, and the
fact
that it was something I learned, it made me think of other aspects in
life that
I have little or no understanding about. How about all the history
that's
happened, that we weren't there for, and all we have is just an
account. Whether
factual, or falsified, there are things that have happened throughout
the
course of history that we just don't have any absolute proof of, except
the
Bible. So, we think about what lies beyond this planet, we think about
what
lies beyond the solar system, we think about what lies beyond this
galaxy that
we don't know about. Or, about what lies beneath the first few miles of
the
earth's surface, or about what's at the bottom of the ocean floor. Or,
what's
even going on in the house next door. So, I just wanted to share
something
that, it struck me as profound. Pastor Lee and I were talking, maybe a
year and
a half ago, and we were just sitting at my house, we were just
discussing some
things, we were just talking about the wonders of God, and about that
things of
God, and he said, “Well, I don't even know what's going on in that
house next
door.” And, you know, that's a very simple statement, but, the more I
thought
about it, it was profound. Because, I thought, “I don't either.” I
don't know
what's going on a house across the street, I don't know what's going on
in that
building down the street, I don't even know what's going on in the next
room of
my own house. And, it just makes me realize, it makes us realize, about
the
mysteries and the wonders of God. And, about the things that lie beyond
our own
understanding about what we just see in front of us, what we have an
understanding
of, that's just a miniscule amount. And, as advanced as we sometimes
think we
are, it seems like every time we turn around, we hear of a new species
of some
kind of animal, or they find another plant, and say, “Oh, well this is
newly
discovered in this rainforest in this South America,” or a different
scientific
element. Has anybody ever heard of the table of elements? Okay, when I
was back
when I was a kid in high school, there was one hundred and three, and,
if you
go through the chart, I mean, it’s things that—a lot of us are familiar
with
like hydrogen, helium, lithium, gold, silver, aluminum, tin, things
like that,
but as they’ve gotten more into understanding, and getting discoveries,
I mean,
when you get towards the end of the table of elements, there's things
that they
named after the scientist that found them, like Lawrencium, or
Einsteinium,
things like that. So, now, after that many years, it's up to one
hundred and
eighteen. And, who knows what the limit is? Because there's no limits.
I'm
going to ask if you could turn with me to the Book of First Timothy,
chapter three,
verse sixteen. This is our first Scripture for this morning, and it
says: 1 Timothy 3:16
And without
controversy great
is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified
in the
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world,
received up into glory. Part 1:
Mystery
and Wonders And, part one of the message today is mystery and wonders.
We think
about a mystery as something that's a challenge, and hard to understand
or
figure out. Or, we wonder about how we're going to do something or go
somewhere, or take—fix some problem. Now, that may seem like a little
bit of a
misplaced statement, as far as, and without controversy great is the
mystery of
godliness. But, a lot of it has to do with just believing, and knowing
that God
is in control, and it's not a matter of trying to overthink it, or
trying to
overcomplicate it. Because, the just shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4,
Romans
1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38). So, we have faith to believe that
God is
in control, and we're not going to know it all. That's not the goal,
either.
God was manifest in the flesh, Jesus Christ, he lived a life that set
an
example to, not only those that lived back then, but to those of us
future
generations, hundreds of years, thousands of years later. But, even
then, we
know to walk in the spirit (Galatians 5:25). Seek the Lord while he may
be
found (Isaiah 55:6). Seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). And,
that doesn't
necessarily mean we understand everything, or have every move
calculated, or have
every problem figured out. I'm going to ask right now if you could turn
with me
to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter twenty-nine, verse twenty-nine.
This has
become one of my favorite verses because it gives us an understanding
that
there are things that we will absolutely never know, but then it
doesn't let us
off the hook, either. Because, God is telling us, “There are certain
things
that are unknown, but then I've given you a plan of salvation, I've
given you
enough to know.” So I'm going to read it. It says: Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong unto
the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us
and to our
children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. So, we're not off the hook. Just because we can't give an
explanation to
every single solitary thing, or happening, or occurrence, or unknown,
or
mystery, or wonder. So, I'm going to ask everybody a question now: How
many’s
ever get biblical, or religious, or spiritual questions that you can't
answer,
on occasion? I would hope everybody. I would hope everybody. It could
come from
friends, it could come from family, it could come from co-workers, or
we might
think of it on our own as to why something is or why something's not.
And, I
imagine we all do, and, though it's uncomfortable, it's inevitable.
There's a
degree of discomfort to being stumped. If you think about—well, you
like to
think, as a teacher, or an instructor, or mentor, as brother Todd
mentioned,
that you've got all figured out, but that's not the case. That doesn't
mean we
don't have some things figured out. That is true. I mean, you think
about from
a point of birth to however old all of us are in this room, there's
certain
orders of society, there's certain orders of just existing that we do
have
figured out, you know, we know how to tie our shoes, we know how to
maybe cook
a meal, then there's things they get a little more difficult, operating
a
computer, and then there's things to get more difficult that deal with
physics,
or engineering, and they're more advanced. So, it doesn't let us off
the hook
from studying and praying to God for understanding to try to figure
things out,
either. So, just when we think about, “Okay, well, I can't answer that
question. I don't know what the answer is,” doesn't mean that an answer
can't
be gotten, it just means that's going to happen on occasion. Nobody’s a
know it
all, and nobody likes a know it all. Do you remember that expression?
So what does
any of the mystery or wonder that we've been talking about have
anything to do
with being converted, as being as little children like Christ spoke
about? I'm
going to answer that question with another question, and that is, how
many that
are, I guess, older than ten, which I think is everybody in this room,
how many
remembers would it was like to be a child, or much younger than you are
now?
That's good, that's good. I'm making that more of a standpoint for us
to think
back, to be able to remember the wonder, and the intrigue that we
experienced as
children. Because, everything we did, that we did it for the first
time, if you
think back, it was magnificent. And, I'm not talking about, “Oh, well,
I had a
difficult childhood,” or, “I had this problem going on,” I'm talking
about, I
know this is going to sound a little odd, but, I think, sometimes, when
we
fast, when we really give ourselves to God in fasting, and I know
that's
another—this is not related to this, this is free, as they
say—fasting’s no
fun, but it's needed. It's a very important part—prayer and fasting. We
talked
about that about a month ago. Christ talked about to the disciples,
they
couldn't cast out a demon, He said, “This kind comes forth by nothing
but
prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:14-21) So, that's it, but there's been
times
that we’ve fasted and I believe God—the Bible says the Holy Ghost
brings all
things into our remembrance (John 14:26), and there's times when God
will bring
back certain things, and I remember, one time, as simple as it is, look
at a
coin, look at a coin, and remember what was the first time when you saw
it
coin. Maybe you didn't know what it was, that it was money, or
whatever, but
you look at, even like the design, and the way it's laid out, or a
dollar bill,
or a five-dollar bill, or anything like that, and you're thinking… and
that's
just a small example. I'm not talking about, “Oh, the majesty of the
mountains,
or the ocean,” because that's beyond belief, at times. I mean, that's
something
that we've talked about in music, we've talked about in messages. But,
just
something is simple as that, but, when were that age, when were little
kids, we
don't pretend to have all the answers. That's what we rely on our
teachers and our
parents for. Kids are notorious for asking a lot of questions. That's a
good
thing. I see sister Abby nodding her head. We're not sure what we want
to do
when we grow up, because we'll worry about that tomorrow. Now, I'm
going to—this
is a little comical, I think, so, I'm going to ask our brother Jordan
to come
back up, this is so, prior to the service, I was looking for a couple
of people
to read—(to Jordan) come on up—so, Alex said, “Well, could you use
Jordan as a
reader? This is his last day.” And I was like, “I don't think so,” but,
then I
thought, “Well, I think I have an opening.” So, then, I looked at my
notes, I
found a verse, and, then, when Pastor Lee called him up, later, I think
you
thought, “This is my cue. This is where
I’m going to read.” And that's not on you, I just thought... I was
sitting over
here, and I was thinking, “No, no, don't read it! Share a testimony.”
So, I am
going to ask you to read, Second Corinthians, five, seventeen one more
time: 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if
any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things
are become new. This is about being born again. Our sins are gone, and our
burdens are
lifted. Part 2:
A
New Perspective Part two of the message, today, is “A New Perspective.” The
way we look
at our journey through life, we look at our day-to-day routine, we look
at
family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and strangers. Old things are
passed
away and all things are become new. So, there's a show called, “The
Football Life”
on the NFL Network, and, I was watching, maybe a year ago, and it
featured a
guy that a lot of us remember from when he played in Chicago, back in
the '70s
and '80s. His name was Walter Payton. He's pretty well known, in the
football
Hall of Fame, so definitely had a memorable career. So, anyway, Walter
retired
in the 1980’s, still very healthy, but he took an unexpected turn in
the late
1990’s with a rare liver disease that would take his life when he was
forty-five.
So, to put it in some perspective of the popularity of Walter, and
those of you
that don't know, that aren’t—and I'm not from Chicago, originally, but
I did
hear a lot about him growing up, as I suspect a lot of us did, that
like
sports. But, before Michael Jordan was the man, Walter Payton was
Chicago
sports. I mean, for all practical purposes, if you think about it, I
mean,
there were guys that preceded him, the Dick Butkus, the Ernie Banks,
and people
like that, but Walter Payton was a legend. And, so, anyway, in this
episode of
this show I was watching, they were kind of paying tribute to him, and
there
was another guy that played around the same time by the name of Eric
Dickerson,
and, he shared something that I think was very heartfelt to me
personally. And,
it was very, humbling, and what he talked about was, when he visited
Walter,
and Walter was knew that his death was inevitable, basically, he was
given only
months to live. He said that Walter Payton said, “I'm scared of dying,
because
I've never died before.” And, that struck me, just because, more than
anything,
I appreciate that honesty. And, this is more than about football, this
is about
life. Because, at this point, now, his career is over, the time of that
part of
his life is over, and now you're facing the end. And, now, I know
there's
examples, both of people that we know, or, you could really kind of
say,
biblically speaking, of people that are not afraid. If we're right in
the eyes
of God, we shouldn't be afraid of death, right? Don't answer that. Ah,
but it's
still a mystery, and, it's still an unknown, and, when it happens, it
might be
the result of an accident or a sickness, or, like we used to hear, just
old
age, it was just old age. But, I would still have to tell you that the
finality
of it is a scary thing. I'm not talking about living in constant fear
or
paranoia. We need to enjoy the joy of the Lord. That needs to be
something that
is an ongoing, daily—the Bible says rejoice in the Lord always and
again I say
rejoice (Philippians 4:4). But, I'm talking about the understanding
that the
sting of death is great; that's what the Bible says. The Apostle Paul—I
was
talking to Brother Bob Heirtzler, and, just mentioning, I asked him
that
question, too, and he gave an honest answer. I said, “You know what? I
appreciate
that answer,” because, he said, “You know, there's a verse that says,
where Apostle
Paul said, ‘I fear after I've preached to others, I myself should be a
castaway.’”
(1 Corinthians 9:27) That's a pretty sobering thought. Now, I'm going
to tell you
this, this is not a doctrinal issue, if you feel like, “I'm totally
fearless,”
or, you're like, “I'm scared,” or, if you're somewhere in between, it's
not a
doctrinal issue. I'm going to read from the Book of James—actually, I want to
just share
a quick story, personal story, as far as, as a kid. I remember, as a
kid, I was
scared of it. Now, I want to share something that might kind of lighten
the
mood, I think. So, in our basement at home, we had kind of a
circular—it wasn't
a real big basement, but, there was a water heater, and there was a red
button
on it. Now, I don't know, this was in the '70s, so, the button, I just
remember
my dad telling me and my brother, “Whatever you do, don't push that
button!
Don't push that button!” and, I'm like, I don't even know what would
happen if
we would have. But, so, we're down in the basement, and we're playing
street
hockey. You know, like slapping a puck around, and, you know, checking
each
other, and pushing each other. Brent, you'll appreciate that. Brent's a
hockey
player. So, anyway, I forget what exactly happened, if, you know,
somebody hit
the puck, and it bounced, and hit that red button, or, you know,
elbowed it by
accident, but it sure seemed like we pushed the red button. So, at that
point,
I'm scared, because I'm thinking the house is going to blow up. I mean,
you're
a kid, you’re just thinking, “Who knows what could happen? Dad said
don't push
that button! Whatever you do, don't push it!” And I'm thinking, I’m
like, we're
standing there, waiting, just staring at it, like it's going to change
anything. Thank God, obviously, I'm still here; nothing happened. I
think it
just resets, I think that's all it was. Why our dad made it, you know,
to be as
big of a deal as he did, that doesn't matter, that doesn't matter. I'm
going to
read from the book of James, chapter four, versus thirteen to fourteen: James 4:13-14
Go to now, ye
that say, To day
or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year,
and buy and
sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.
For what
is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time,
and then
vanisheth away. I know that those are some sobering statements in Scripture,
as far as
talking about that inevitably of death, but, I'm also going to tell you
right
now that if we're living right according to the Word of God, and we've
prepared
ourselves by being born again, God doesn't want us to live in constant
fear,
but God does want us to have a child-like humility and a reverence to
Him that
is real. And, God does want us to love Him with all our heart, soul,
mind, and
strength, and rely on Him daily. God is our sustenance. God is the
provider.
Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the father of
lights, the
very breath of life, there's not a thing we could do without Him. So, I
think
we've all heard the term ‘carefree’ used to describe a person or
someone who
seems to go through life that doesn't seem weighed down by the problems
around
them. It's a term not to be confused with careless because that's
another
behavior altogether. Being carefree can have both positive and negative
connotations, depending on who you ask, but one thing someone that's
carefree
is typically resilient and can bounce back from setbacks. Does anybody
here know
anybody like that? A few people. Does anyone here think of yourself
that way?
That's good. Is anyone here jealous of people like that? Don't raise
your hand. Part 3:
God
Will Take Care of Us Part three of the message today—I'm going to ask Jennifer
Fuentes if
she could come up. She's going to read, on her last day here before she
heads
off to college, from the Book of Matthew, chapter six, versus
twenty-five
through thirty-four. And, part three of the message today is, “God Will
Take
Care of Us.” Matthew 6:25-34
Therefore I say
unto you, Take
no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink;
nor yet
for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat,
and the
body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,
neither do
they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are ye
not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one
cubit
unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the
lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet
I say
unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is,
and to
morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye
of little
faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we
drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things
do the
Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of
all these
things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all
these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the
morrow:
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient
unto the
day is the evil thereof. Thank you. So this is one of those passages that's easier to
read than
to actually believe or to live. Can we agree with that? As far as,
being
worried or weighed down or wondering where the next paycheck, or
wondering
where the next meal, or wondering whether this problem's going to get
fixed, or
that situation is going to get handled. It's something that does burden
us
down, and I'm not saying that's right or wrong, I'm just saying that
that's
human nature. Because, we're all survivors. We're all looking to
survive, to
live another day, to get through this life, to enjoy this life, and to
hear
those words, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant.” That is the
ultimate
goal. But, while we're here, and I'm just going to share something—I've
shared
this before, but I thought, I appreciated this a lot, Jennifer, I'm
going to
brag on you just a moment here, when we had studies at Kirk and Nubia's
house,
this was Wednesday nights, probably five or six years ago, Kirk and I
would do
the studies, and, so, we would occasionally, like, maybe every couple
of
months, we would ask the people that regularly attended, “What topics
are you
interested in hearing about?” So, you know, you’d hear different
things, “Oh,
could you talk about holiness?” “Could you talk about pastorship?”
Well, Jennifer,
she said, “I want to hear about the future.” And, it was one of those
that kind
of stumped us, but it was, to me, I thought, “That's great!” because,
at the
time, I think she was ten, eleven, twelve maybe, somewhere around
there, and
so, because I think a lot of times what happens is the routine,
sometimes, of
Christianity is, we're thinking, “The end. The end is coming. Endure to
the
end. The world's getting worse, there's so many problems, this that and
the
other.” On, and on, and on, and on. And, so, how do we present the
future to
our youth. are we presenting it in a grim, hopeless way? Or, are we
presenting
it in a way, if you trust in God, God will take care of you? If you
believe in
God, and you obey God, and you keep His commandments, God will take
care of us.
But, so, where's the balance in between being responsible and being
concerned,
and yet, at the same time not being overburdened with every problem
real or
imagined? Where did we stand when it comes down to taking care of our
family,
taking care of ourselves, taking care of our jobs, taking care of
responsibilities in God? It's impossible to know every situation that
everyone
has to endure, and, God only knows that. But, more than anything, it's
up to us
to have faith in God, and believe it. Not just read it and think,
“Well, that's
good. That's good to hear.” And, put it into practice. Trust that
there's a lot
of mystery and wonder that we're going to face even every single day.
I'm
closing here in a moment. But, the message the title of the message,
today, is
a simple one, it's, “Innocence,” and that's based on the child-like
outlook
that we need to have as adults, and still have faith to believe God
will take
care of us. I thought about a different title, and, prayed about a
different
title, not because I didn't like it, but because I just thought, “I
don't know
if that's adequate. I don't know if that's really enough.” But,
thinking about
innocence, it's based on being born again, and having that child-like
perspective, and having a purpose in life. And, there's definitely
innocence in
that. And, it's based on knowing that there's still plenty of wonders
in
mysteries in this universe. Now, will never know everything, and
there's an
innocence in acknowledging that, too. But, we most of all we need to
know that
God cares for us, and God will take care of us, if we humble ourselves
as
little children. Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
|
|
|
