Do It Anyway !

SERMON: 2008-04-05--do-it-3--do-it-anyway SOURCE DURATION: 00:40:56.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: Candidate 14 contains continuous sermon content (a call/exhortation). Candidate 15 explicitly marks the transition to non-sermon material ('(music fades)'), making candidate 14 the last segment of the sermon. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:36:52.500-00:40:55.420 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- A couple of weeks ago, somebody gave me a little book that I had never seen or heard of before. It's called "Jesus Did It Anyway." It's subtitled "The Paradoxical Commandments for Christians," and it's written by a fellow by the name of Kent Keith. The word paradoxical means, of course, logically contradictory and yet nevertheless true. And this little book contains ten sayings based on scripture that are paradoxical but that nevertheless are true. They're all variants of the biblical teaching that if you want to gain your life, you must first lose it. Little background will be helpful. Mr. Keith first wrote these ten paradoxical commandments for Christians back in 1968 when he was 19 years of age and a sophomore at Harvard University. And in the next couple of years, about 30,000 copies of the little booklet containing these paradoxical commandments was published and were circulated. And life went on, he lost track of it, went on in his own career to become an attorney at law, a university president, a YMCA executive, a Rhodes scholar, a very brilliant man. Never thought about it until 1997 when he discovered that Mother Teresa in her children's home in Calcutta had posted the ten paradoxical commandments for Christians. He took that to be a sign from the Lord that it was time to return to them because in the intervening 25 or 30 years, these things had in fact spread all over the world unbeknownst to him. And so he began speaking once again on the paradoxical commandments for Christians, ended up publishing a number of books, three in total on this subject, of which this is the most recent one, Jesus Did It Anyway. What I'd like to try to do with you this Palm Sunday morning is to walk you through some of these paradoxical commandments and then illustrate them from the life and the ministry of Jesus, particularly during the events of Passion Week. Because I think if you've ever been in a situation where you have tried to exercise leadership or where you've tried to go out on a limb and give of yourself without reservation, you will have found how true and how important these paradoxical commandments are and how painful it can be to be on the receiving end of pain and rejection. So if you're good with that, then we'll make a start at it this morning. We'll begin with paradoxical commandment number one. Listen to this. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway. Now think back with me to Palm Sunday many years ago when Jesus first rode into Jerusalem on the back of that donkey. Why was the crowd so enthusiastic when he came into Jerusalem? Well many different reasons, but one reason is that they were just downright selfish. They were expecting Jesus to come and to restore the divided kingdom. Five days later, many in that same crowd stood before Pontius Pilate and called out, "Crucify him, crucify him." Why did they turn on an eye? Because their hopes and their dreams had been dashed. They thought he was their meal ticket to political and economic freedom. And then when he didn't deliver, their hearts were crushed and their affection turned to bitter and deep hatred. Now take it a step further with me. When Jesus was dragged before Pontius Pilate and it became clear that none of the charges against him could be sustained, why nevertheless did they insist he be put to death? Because they were not only self-centered, they were also unreasonable. They could not be reasoned with because they were filled with anger, they had an agenda of their own. Take it still a step further. When they were presented by Pontius Pilate with a choice between Jesus, the author of life, and Barabbas, a murderer, a rebel, an insurrectionist, the Bible says he was. Why did they choose Barabbas over Jesus? I'll tell you why. They were not only self-centered. They were not only unreasonable. They were downright illogical. They couldn't understand the logic of choosing between the author of life and the killer. Now before you and I get too smug and we point our fingers at them and say, "Weren't they terrible people?" Let's be honest and realize that every last one of us, we at least have moments like that, don't we? Moments when we're self-centered, unreasonable, and even illogical. Moments when we want what we want, we can't listen to what is being said, and we behave in a completely illogical fashion. And if you don't think that's true about yourself, then you probably think that's true about your spouse or some of your friends or other people that you know. So why are we like that? Why is the best of us sometimes like that? I'll tell you why. Because all of us have deep places in our hearts where we don't really fully trust that God will look after us. And when in those core places, our safety and our security is threatened, we take matters into our own hands and we come out clawing and scratching. And I'll tell you something this morning, it takes considerable grace and a considerable degree of maturity in Christ to resist that temptation when the very core issues of our lives are laid bare and we are threatened in those places. So not only do we dish that out, but most of us, one time or another, we're at the receiving end of that, are we not? And when we do, what's the temptation? Well, the initial temptation, I suspect, is to fight back. And you will have discovered, as I have, that in the places where people are illogical, unreasonable, or self-centered, there is no persuading. And we have all walked away from relationships in frustration because the more you say, the worse it gets and you feel that simply you cannot and will not be heard. That's why in a lot of marriages, people quit talking about problems that they can't agree on. That's why in a lot of friendships, there are certain subjects that are off topic because every time you engage each other there, you run into this place of illogic, unreasonableness, and this place of self-centeredness. And so our tendency then is to throw in the towel, close off our hearts, and to walk away. And this is where Jesus is so different from you and me. Because John, in his gospel, puts it this way, John 13.1, "Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Even while he hung on the cross, he was able to cry out, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they did.'" He never ever closed off his heart. And Peter goes on to tell us in 1 Peter chapter 2 that you and I ought to be imitators of the Lord Jesus when he says, "To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin. No deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly." Jesus never took matters into his own hands because he knew that his reputation, he knew that his life, he knew that the core issues of his heart were ultimately and fundamentally in the Father's hand. And he says to you and to me, if you're going to be my followers, if you're going to be my disciples, that's how I want you to learn how to live in a world where people are illogical, where people are unreasonable, where people are self-centered, love them anyway. Now, I don't know if you've ever tried to do that. I find that particularly difficult. And maybe you're a lot more spiritual than I am. But I suspect we all have some difficulty on that point sooner or later. But you know why this is so important? Now listen to me. Why does Jesus subject himself to this incredible humiliation when even hanging on the cross he could have called 10,000 angels and they would have come to his rescue? You've often heard me say, had I been in his shoes, I would have called them and a few more. And I would have said, it's over, folks, I've got enough of you. But no, he humbled himself even to death on a cross. Why? Because power cannot win a human heart. He could use power. He could have made everybody kneel before him. But you see, power can only make you obey on the outside by force. It cannot win your heart. And it for sure cannot win your heart in those places where you are frightened and have closed in on yourself. The only way a heart can live there is for somebody in power to lay aside their power to make it completely safe for your vulnerability to live and to come to expression. That's what Jesus did when he hung on the cross. And it's no coincidence then that the Roman centurion at the cross not only made the confession truly this man was the son of God when he saw how Jesus died, but Luke's Gospel tells us when all the people who had gathered to witness this sight, that is to say the sight of the crucifixion, when they saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. And the Bible tells us that even Judas demonized as he had been in his betrayal of Jesus, even Judas was filled with remorse and he cried out, "I have betrayed innocent blood." People are illogical, they're unreasonable, they're self-centered, love them anyway. Commandment number two, if you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway. And again, think back with me to the ministry of Jesus. If anybody went around doing good, it was Jesus, would you not agree? He healed the sick, raised the dead, did whatever needed to be done to bring about the kingdom of God. What reward did Jesus get for going around doing good? Well the religious leaders of his day accused him of being in league with the devil. They said this man's power comes from Satan. And this may or may not surprise you, but in my own life and ministry, not to try to compare myself to Jesus, on two separate occasions, in two separate churches, at two separate congregational meetings, people stood up publicly, get this, they stood up publicly and they accused me of being in league with the devil. I don't know if you've ever been in that kind of situation, it kind of puts you back on your haunches a little bit, you know. I mean it's one thing for people to think it, and it's one thing for people to tell you privately, but to declare that publicly. Well some of you, you're sitting here and saying, "What terrible thing did you do to deserve that?" Well I don't know. I still don't know. I thought I was being pretty nice, but I suspect I got under a few people's skin because I spoke truth into their lives, and they had a hard time yielding to the authority of Jesus. If you've ever been in that kind of situation, why do people do that kind of a thing? Why do they question our motives when sometimes we try so hard to do the right? Well there's a couple of reasons. One reason is because sometimes our motives are awry. There isn't one of us whose motives are always 100% pure, and there are many, many reasons and many, many times when we have ulterior motivation. I mean think of the husband who comes home all lovey-dovey with flowers in hand because he expects to be paid back in bed later that night. Or the sales person who all of a sudden has become your best buddy because he's got dollar signs in his eyes, and he thinks he's going to make it a sale. Don't you love it when people call you on the telephone whom you have never met? They call you by your first name and they act as if they've known you all their lives. I want to slap the telephone, go away. I don't know you. I don't want to be your friend. Tell you the way it is. But Jesus was not like that, was he? I mean his motivation, the Bible says he was without guile. He was perfectly transparent before God, perfectly transparent before people. Have them to the core, and yet they accused him of being in league with the devil, why? I'll tell you why. In a fallen and a sinful world, we have a way of reading our own dark thoughts, emotions and feelings into other people's lives. We think that we would do a certain thing for a certain reason. We have certain feelings under certain circumstances. We expect everybody else to be just like us, and therefore when we see them doing something that is good and righteous and holy, we've got to find some reason to read our junk into their lives. There is a verse in Titus that I have found extremely helpful in understanding this over the years. It's verse 15 of the book of Titus, the first chapter, "To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure." That is to say, if your heart is pure, then you look for purity. And when you look for purity, when you look for good things, you're going to find it. But if your heart is impure, that's what you start looking for. And whether it's there, yes or no, you will find it because if it isn't there as was true in the case of Jesus, you'll make it up because you've got to find a reason to condemn the other person. That's why we've been talking about removing the log out of our own eye so that we can see clearly the speck or the splinter in the eye of the other. So here we are again. Our motives have been questioned. We have been criticized. What's our reaction typically? Well, and I'm just going by my kind of reaction. I suspect the first is hurt, shock, surprise. Usually that gives way to anger, and then pretty soon you begin to second guess yourself. And then after a while, you want to throw in the towel because why do good anyway when your motives are constantly being challenged and your love is being thrown back in your face? I'll never forget the first time that happened in my life in ministry. I had just come out of school, I was pastoring my first church, filled with all the zeal, I suspect, and enthusiasm of youth, doing my best to lead people and to lead the church community that I was pastoring into the wholeness of life in Christ, as I understood it. And it wasn't very long before criticism began to arise, a number of people who had always been the power structure in that church took issue with me and with my leadership. They began having meetings behind my back, as I recall, and all kinds of nasty things that happened in churches in the name of God. Eventually, you know, that came to my attention, of course, and I remember just being devastated. I wasn't devastated because they were criticizing me. I mean, a lot of the things that we were doing could honestly be criticized, I suspect, and you could have a difference of opinion. I was devastated because they so misread me and they so misread my motives. And I remember preaching sermons in the middle of the night to them. I remember having conversations in my head all night long with them. And I remember thinking, "Lord, why bother? Let me just throw in the towel." And if you've ever been there, you know what that feels like. And that of course is precisely where the devil wants us to be. Because you see, if you're going to step out and you're going to start living, we'll talk more about that in a few moments, you're going to get criticized sooner or later. But if you allow yourself to be shut down, or if you want to wait until you can do it perfectly, you'll be waiting till the cows come home. Far better to step out, learn how to do it, have an open heart and an open mind where you need to be corrected. But for God's sake, step out into your calling and obey Him, knowing that He will do the fixing up as time goes on. Because if you have to wait for a child to speak perfectly before he starts to speak, or walk perfectly before he or she begins to walk, they'll never learn how to walk. And there's a lot of people that are shut down because nobody celebrated their coming to life. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway. That's what Jesus did. Do you remember what was the first thing he did when he came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? He went to the temple. What did he do with the temple? He healed everybody that came to him that was sick. You know, the temple represented, the temple represented the stronghold of the Pharisees who were about to put him to death. And you can imagine that they stood there with magnifying glasses looking at him saying, "I dare you." And he said, "Stuff it. I'm going to do what the Father wants me to do because for this I was sent into the world." And then as the week goes on, you find him in the garden of Gethsemane and you've got Peter impetuous old Peter takes out his sword and he slices off the ear of a slave called Malchus. What did Jesus do? He takes the ear and he puts it back on, his last recorded miracle, this side of the cross. Had I been there, I would have said, "Peter, good for you. Take off the other one too." Put him in his place. And then when he hangs on the cross and there's this thief, these two thieves railing at him until one of them repents and turns to him, what does he do? He not only extends forgiveness to the crowd, as I said earlier, but he says to the thief, "Today you will be with me in paradise." And then in the middle of his suffering and in the middle of his pain, he turns to his mother Mary who is left now without her oldest son to look after her in her old age. And he turns to his disciple John, his favorite, and he says to him, "Take care of my mom. Son, behold, your mother and mother, behold, your son in the midst of great anguish. Jesus thought of others. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway." Well, do you think you can handle one more? If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. Again, think back with me to Jesus' life, particularly that last week when he was on earth. Of all the pain, of all the humiliation that he went through, what do you think pained him the most? Well, there were a lot of things that pained him, certainly being abandoned by God the father on the cross probably took the cake. Being put to death, counted among criminals, nailed to a Roman cross, that would have been extremely difficult. The cross, you may remember, was designed to extract a maximum amount of pain and suffering. To suffer a miscarriage of justice before the Roman governor, to be declared guilty when you're not, oh, that would have cut to the core of his soul, to have the religious leaders falsely accuse him. That could not have been any fun. To see the crowds abandon him, turn against him in droves, the very people whom he had saved and whom he came to bless, that would hurt. And then the Bible says all his disciples forsook him and fled. That would be painful. But you know, as I reflect on the story of the sufferings of Jesus, it occurs to me by times that painful as all of these things were, equal to or maybe even greater than most of these would be the pain that he experienced at the betrayal of Judas Iscariot. Remember Judas Iscariot was a member of his inner circle. Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve that he had handpicked to be with him. Judas Iscariot had sat in on all the discussions of the inner circle, knew the habits of Jesus to a T, that's how come he was able to lead them to the garden of Gethsemane because he was in on that inside information. Judas Iscariot owned the purse collectively for all of the disciples and the Bible says he was a thief. And Judas Iscariot became the devil's tool for selling out Jesus. Many years ago, King David, speaking not only of his own experience but looking forward prophetically to what would befall his greater son the Lord Jesus, in Psalm 55 put it this way, "If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it. If a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God." Again, I don't know if you've ever been in that kind of a situation, if you've ever been in a marriage that went sour or if you've ever had a friendship that went sour or a business relationship that went on the rocks. If you've ever been close to somebody and for whatever reasons that relationship collapsed and fell apart and that person turned against you and betrayed you, then you will have some inkling about the pain that Jesus would have experienced in the presence of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot. So here's the question, why did Judas betray Jesus? Why did he turn on him? Well, because if truth be known, he was a false friend. He came alongside Jesus to ride on his coattails into a kingdom that he thought was going to be a physical kingdom where he would have a position of authority and power. And as long as it seemed that Jesus was going to succeed in that, he was ready to ride along. But when it became evident that that was not Jesus' agenda, that he was looking instead for a kingdom that is to come, a kingdom that could only be entered into by death and by resurrection, Judas' true motivation was laid bare. And he said, "This isn't what I bargained for." And he turned on his erstwhile friend and he sold him to the religious authorities of his day for the measly sum of 30 pieces of silver. Now, you know, 30 pieces of silver was the price of a slave. So here is Jesus, the author of life, the creator of all of the universe, worshipped by myriads upon myriads of angels worthy of all glory, praise, and honor. And you ask Judas, "How much is Jesus worth?" And Judas says, "He is worth the price of a slave." And there's a twofold principle here that I want us to understand. If you or I, by God's grace and blessing, become successful in life, that is to say, if we can lay hold of God's purposes for us and we pursue it with God's blessing, two things are going to happen. Number one, you're going to discover you have true enemies. You know why? Because there is a certain kind of person who doesn't know grace, doesn't understand grace, can stand to see you get ahead because they feel that you getting ahead comes at their expense or reflects poorly on them. And that can be in areas of business, that can be in areas of relationships, that can be in areas of church ministry. I don't care what it is. When you pursue God with all your heart and God blesses you sooner or later, somebody will try to oppose you. And for most of us, when we have never experienced that, that comes as an incredible revelation. How can people hate me and how can people oppose me instead of sharing my joy and my victory? There's one thing that happens, but there's a second thing that happens. You'll discover when you're successful that there's a category of people who will be false friends. That is to say they will attach themselves to you and they will ride on your coattails and they will bask in your reflected glory. And as long as you're successful and as long as you're able to deliver whatever it is that they're looking for and want out of that relationship with you, they will stand beside you and they will praise you and they will bless you. But you know how you tell a false friend from a true friend? It's when you run into trouble or when you cannot or will not deliver what they're looking for. A true friend sticks closer than a brother, says scripture. A false friend will bail because he will be more interested or she will be in holding on to his or her own advantages than siding with you. I was in a telephone conversation not very long ago with a wife of a colleague of mine who's had to step down from his church because the relationship between him and the church wasn't very happy and just was not working out. And she said to me that of all the pastors in that particular region who had had a relationship with her husband, there is only one who dared buck the tide of popular opinion and continue to stand beside him in his time of loneliness and his time of triumph. And I hear a story like that and I want to weep. Because this wasn't even a situation of sin where he had to step down, no, this was just a situation of incompatibility. And at the very moment when he needed most to support the encouragement and the understanding of his colleagues, they all forsook him and fled because they're all young and they don't want their good reputation sullied by a contact with him. That's a painful business. So what do you do when you discover that you have true enemies? What do you do when you discover that your friends are false? Well, again, you go through hurt, you go through anger, you begin to close off your heart, you begin second guessing yourself, what am I doing to bring this on? Because you see, fact of the matter is false friends and enemies will always try to turn it around and put it back on your plate. Or the one who's causing the trouble. And you know what's so difficult about that? In a fallen world, at least half the time, they're right. But I know from past experience, you become so self-analytical and try so hard to figure out what's my role in all of this that you bog down in paralysis and you can no longer move because to move is to invite criticism and to move is to discover a great deal. Do you understand what I'm saying? Am I the only one that's ever lived there? And it's this issue that has shut down tons and tons of God's people. And it's this issue that has caused many people to deny their great giftedness because every time they try to excel, every time they rose above the crowd, there was somebody saying to them, "Don't, because you're going to make somebody else feel bad." And so the gifted child in a home will be held back because the other children are going to feel badly if you get all the praises. People with great giftedness in the church can't exercise their giftedness because somebody's going to look at them and say, "Who in the world do they think they are anyway? God's gift to the church." And a lot of people struggle with their own giftedness and deny their own giftedness because living in their gifts is too costly, it's too expensive, and they just shut it down. Let me tell you my own experience, every time in my life, particularly professional life, when I have felt the urge of God's Holy Spirit to spread my wings and fly and live with every passion that he instills within my soul, there has been somebody somewhere who has done their best to kill me. And I bet you that's your experience too, sooner or later. And you know, while I'm on a roll here, can I tell you that one of the worst places for this is the church? The church kills each other far better than the world ever does, you know why? Because we're family, we open up our hearts to each other, we show things to each other that nobody else ever gets to see, and so therefore we have great power to greatly kill each other. And you know the antidote to that? Don't let the devil shut you down. Don't be a fool about it and don't always think you're self-righteous and you're right and everybody else is wrong. No, no, keep an open heart, keep an open mind, but understand that if you're successful, you will win false friends and you will discover true enemies. And what God wants to do is create a kind of community where there is so much love and so much grace to go around. We don't have to pick at each other. We can just be who we are and we can allow the gifts to rise to the surface. We can live in the places where God has called us to live. Because in healthy life and in healthy family and in healthy community, there is more than enough to go around and we can all celebrate the goodness of God's gifts to all of His children. And instead of criticizing, wouldn't it be wonderful if we can truly rejoice that you're [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:36:52.500; remove through 00:40:56.000] better than me, you're more successful than me [CUT], you're more gifted than me, you're smarter than me, you're better looking than me. Isn't that what it's about? You say, "How can we get there?" That's why Jesus died and that's why He rose from the dead so that He can pour out His life upon us, you see, because when all has been said and done, He lived for an audience of one because He knew that God the Father had the power of life and death and you and I when we can learn that God the Father alone has the power of life and death and we make it our business to live before Him and to obey Him, then if not in this life, then in the life to come, God Himself will vindicate because scripture says, "Do not be weary in well-doing, but in due season you shall reap if you do not give up." Come and join the reapers, all the kingdom seekers. Laying down your life to find it in the end. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. Come and share the harvest, health to life, the darkness, for the Lord is calling. (music fades) [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:40:56.000; resume after this marked segment]