Marching Orders

Tom Shrader provides a comprehensive summary of the week's teaching, emphasizing that believers need transformed hearts, informed minds, and radical lives. He explores the freedom found in the cross - freedom from sin's consequences, freedom from sin's bondage, and freedom to be who God created us to be. Shrader addresses the reality of suffering in the Christian life, encouraging believers to expect trials while trusting God's sovereignty and purposes in all circumstances.

“We're worse off than we could have ever imagined, but more loved than we ever dreamed.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: CBCC August 2012

Recorded: 2012 at Cannon Beach Conference Center

Duration: 56 min

Themes: transformation, freedom, suffering, grace, mercy, purpose, trials, sovereignty, struggling with sin, facing trials, new believer, seeking purpose, feeling overwhelmed, christian student, young adult, mentor

Scripture: Romans 5:6-10, Ephesians 2, Genesis 3, 1 John 5:21, Matthew 6:32-33, 2 Timothy 2:4, 2 Timothy 4, James 1:2-4, John 9, Romans 8:28, 2 Corinthians 4:8, 1 Peter, Daniel 1:8, Psalm 145:8-9, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 10:31

Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, redemption, spiritual transformation, divine sovereignty, gods will, biblical worldview, christian living

Full Transcript

We can come to an amazing place like this to be reminded of Your grace and mercy, to hear songs sung and stories told, and then to open Your word, and to have You show us yet again who You are, who we are, to help us see the huge need that we have, the emptiness we have apart from You, and the fulfillment we can find in You and You alone. Though our heart will wander, though we'll pursue false gods, even when we know You, we thank You that You give us Your spirit that pulls us back to You. God, thank You that You'll never leave us or forsake us, abandon us. You are an awesome, holy God. Remind us of that yet again today. We pray that to You in Christ's name. Amen.

Well, good morning. Great to see you this morning. Lisa mentioned this is the last day, this is the last time I have with you. And so in moments like that, I'm always trying to figure out what do we do? How do we tie this together?

Here's what I decided to do. I want to give you some final thoughts, but I want to do it in a way of a summary. If you can think of a time that you saw a movie that had one of those twists and turns to it and a bit of a surprise ending. And so you see that movie and then you think, well, I don't really need to see it again. It would be spoiled because I know the ending. But you go back and you watch that movie and you see all these little things along the way that tipped you off to what was going to happen. I want to do that in the summary.

Looking Back on Our Journey

Part of what Brian and I did this week is just feed off each other. We came with a few ideas and then it's a little bit scary, but to let the Holy Spirit put this together to see where we go. And now as I look back on it, I want to take you through an overview of that and then give you some final thoughts.

And then I said marching orders. There's something about getting together in a place like this and then stepping away. Loving God, seeing God, understanding God seems so easy in a place like this. And then we go back and we say we're going to go to what we would call the real world. God is a God who works in the real world. We want to make sure we take with us that very same change, that very same spirit, that very same attitude is here.

Transformed Hearts and Informed Minds

So let me take you through some of what we talked about. There'll be a little bit overlap and there's some things Brian talked about, but I think it'll be helpful. We started the first day by saying in a sense our overall goal is to have a transformed heart and an informed mind and to lead a radical life. That we're born with a heart of stone, but God gives us a heart of flesh. Ephesians chapter 2, you were dead in your sins and trespasses.

We said that first day, there's a sense in which we're worse off than we could have ever imagined. If sin were blue, we would be Smurfs. Worse off than we could ever imagine, but more loved than we ever dreamed.

The Need for Life

The first dead person I ever saw was my grandfather. We were in Sheraton, Iowa. It's a little town in South Central Iowa, about 4,000 people. We were in a place called Beardsley's Funeral Home. It was actually a house that had been converted to a funeral parlor.

My mom and my aunt and I are standing in the front porch. We had just been in to see my grandfather who had passed away a couple of days before and he's there. And my aunt said to my mom, didn't dad look good? And I thought, well, I need to go back in there and check this out.

So I remember going back in and I remember looking at him and he had on a suit. I don't know if I'd ever seen him in a suit. He had on a tie and looked very – a little smile, I didn't see that often. Little eyes and glasses were all squared. And I concluded, and remember this, I don't know how old I was, 11 maybe, I concluded that my grandfather indeed looked very good, but he seemed to me to have one overriding problem. He was dead.

And there's only one thing a dead man needs and that's life. My grandma and grandpa didn't have a lot of money and didn't have a lot of stuff and I could have gone by that casket he was in and thrown all sorts of money in there. I could have put booze in there. I could have, I'm trying to now date it, I could have paraded the McGuire sisters by him. I could have done whatever it was and nothing was going to help him because he was dead.

And the Bible tells us that we're dead in our sins and trespasses and what we need is life. And Jesus says, I am the light of the world. I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes into the Father but through me. And we started and we said that's what we need, we need a transformed heart. And it's an act of God who rips out that heart of stone, puts in a heart of flesh. Now I begin to inform my mind so my life begins to change.

Finding Our Perspective

In that process, for me what's important is to be able to get perspective. And we said that first day, our perspective comes from the scriptures. For the scriptures are inspired by God. And they're good for reproof and correction and teaching, training in righteousness. The Bible tells us what's right, what's not right, how to get right, how to stay right.

And the Bible helps us see God for who He really is. And when we see that, we begin to see ourselves for who we are. The psalmist writes in Psalm 145, verses 8, 9 following, writes this: "The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, great in loving kindness. The Lord is good to all and His mercies are over all His works. And all His works shall give thanks to You, O Lord. You and Your godly ones shall bless You. They speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power. To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts and the glory and majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, Your dominion an everlasting dominion. Your dominion endures throughout the generations."

We read over and over who God is. And we said early on in our second session that Voltaire said it this way: "God created man in

his own image and man has been returning the favor ever since. Our mission is to begin to see God as He really is. This objective not subjective truth. He reveals Himself through creation. That's what Paul tells us in Romans chapter 1. The whole creation speaks of His power and of His glory.

In a sense that gets bigger and bigger each day. We're told the universe continues to expand. As creation gets bigger and we look at it and we're in awe of it, and as He gets bigger in His perspective we get in our perspective. We begin to see ourselves as who we really are. So I pick up this Bible thinking I'm the center of the universe. Then I realize He's the creator and the one who sustains it and holds it together.

There's a wonderful book that I go back to and read from periodically in my life. It's called "I Am Not But I Know I Am" by Louie Giglio. Welcome to the wonderful story of God.

The "I Am" and the "I Am Not"

He talks about God confronting Moses. God knew it was imperative for Moses to know who He was, that He was the I Am. God was telling Moses: I am the center of everything. I am running the show. I am the same every day forever. I am the owner of everything. I am the Lord. I'm the creator and sustainer of life. I'm the Savior. I'm more than enough. I'm inexhaustible. I'm immeasurable. I'm God.

In a heartbeat, Giglio says, Moses knew God's name and something more. He finally knew his name, for if God is I Am, Moses is I Am Not. I am not the center of everything. I am not in control. I am not the solution. I'm not all-powerful. I'm not calling the shots. I'm not the owner of anything. I'm not the Lord.

Giglio adds, "That's my name too, and your name. I Am Not." Just try it under your breath, say this: I am not. I'm not running anything. I'm not the head of anything. I'm not in charge of anything. I'm not the maker of anything. I'm not the Savior of anything. I'm not holding it all together. I am not all-knowing. I am not God.

A little bit later Giglio writes this: Our God is more massive than our wildest imagination, bigger than the biggest words we have to describe Him, and He's doing good today sustaining galaxies, holding to the stars in place, stewarding the seemingly chaotic events of Earth to His conclusion within His great story. God is constant. He blinks and a lifetime comes and goes. To Him a day is a thousand years a day, and all human history could be written on His fingernail with plenty of room left over.

God is doing well today. He has no dilemmas, no quandaries, no counselors, no shortages, no rivals, no fears, no cracks, no worries. He is self-existent, self-contained, self-perpetuated, self-powered, self-aware. In other words, He's God and He knows it.

Understanding Our Need for Redemption

That's what we start at the very beginning. This is when I begin to see God and who He is and understand who He is and the separation, the chasm. We saw the first day the story of creation, fall, redemption, restoration. We went to Romans chapter 5 and we talked about verses 6, 8, and 10: while we were still helpless, while we were yet sinners, while we were His enemies, Christ died for us.

It's a thought I had at Easter this year. I'm sure it's not original at all and I don't know why it hit me, and I don't know that I can express it well, but I'll take a shot at it. I think because we sit here and as we look back at Genesis 3 and God's response, we forget to pause and understand He didn't have to send Jesus. He didn't have to redeem us. He didn't have to say that He would send this promised one. He did not have to do that. He did that out of His love.

That's what we saw in 1 John: "This is love: not that we loved Him, but that He loved us and gave His Son to die for us." And now He says, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to love." In fact, here's what He said: "Here's how the whole world is going to know that you're a follower of Christ. You're going to love one another."

What Stops Us from Loving

What stops me from loving? We went to the very end of that book where He tells us about love and what love really is. Love is that gift from Him. We went to the end of 1 John, 1 John chapter 5 verse 21, the very last verse of that book. We looked at it from the Amplified: "Little children, guard yourself from idols."

Here are the things that stop us from being the man, woman, student God calls us to be. What's going to stop me? Anything and everything that would occupy a place in your heart that's due God, any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life.

We said to you on that second night that the uniqueness of the Christian biblical Christianity is exactly that. It's the hound of heaven. It's a holy God seeking a sinful man. We tried at the end of that first night or second night to go back and tie it together: while we were still helpless, while we were sinners, while we were enemies, without any sort of obligation but driven by His great love, He sent Jesus to die.

Understanding Grace

We introduced a term that night that's not new but we began to dwell on it. We talked about grace. It's an incomprehensible trait for us really because grace, love, mercy, humility all begin to run together.

Brian last night mentioned Gandhi. I have this line that I used to use a lot in terms of just trying to get people to think that based on his own testimony, Gandhi's the nicest man in hell. Because here's what Gandhi said: "I read the Gospels every day. I love the teaching of Jesus, but I reject the idea that Jesus or anybody else could die in my place."

So start to get your arms around this idea. Gandhi - there's that beautiful picture of all his earthly possessions: his glasses, his walking stick, his prayer book. That's it. The Mahatma. Let me present to you a different man. His name is Jeffrey Dahmer. Remember Jeffrey Dahmer? Jeffrey Dahmer was a man who took young men and little boys, had sex with them, carved them up. The story goes that in prison he came to know

Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior, that he was baptized there. Jeffrey Dahmer will be in heaven based on that if it's true. With a house next to yours. That's why even in heaven you may want to lock those doors at night. I'm not totally sure about all the Dahmer stuff.

Isn't that an amazing thought? Here's the Mahatma, here's Gandhi. Gandhi's in hell. Dahmer's in heaven. Yeah, why? Because it's not about us, it's about Him. It's about grace. Saving grace.

What Hampers Our Christian Walk

Now I begin to live this life. What can begin to hamper me? No soldier in active duty tangles themselves in the affairs of everyday life. 2 Timothy 2:4. The love of the world and the things of the world.

Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount begins to plead with us and to have us think and begin to look at life in Matthew chapter 6. Jesus said, here's the deal. No one can serve two masters. You'll love one, hate the other. Be devoted to one, despise the other. You can't serve God and wealth.

For this reason, I say to you, don't worry about your life. And He goes on to say, don't worry about what you're going to eat, what you're going to wear, where you're going to stay. I'm going to take care of those. I understand the necessities of it. I understand the reality of it. I understand if I have a job and that job goes away, I understand the concern. But He's saying, listen, ultimately, I want you to understand, that's the provision. I'll make that provision for you.

When I start to worry about the world and the things of the world, He says, here's the problem. That's what the Gentiles do. Matthew 6:32. They seek after these things. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. So don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself.

This should be your screensaver: Each day has enough trouble of its own. I don't have to bring yesterday's to today or take today's in tomorrow.

The Danger of Worldly Pressures

What's going to come in and what stops that change? All of a sudden, the pressures of the world. There's an interesting guy in the New Testament. We see his name three times. His name is Demas. We see him in the book of Colossians, in the book of Philemon, as Paul's signing off and talking about the guys that are traveling with him.

But the last time we hear his name is at the very end of the last book that we have that Paul writes us, 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 4, Paul is pleading. He says, make every effort, Timothy, to come to me soon for Demas. This Demas that hung with me. This Demas that heard me preach. This Demas that saw all of this.

Listen, I don't know who you listen to on tape or online. I don't know who you've seen. But kind of my guess is if it's the apostle Paul, this would be compelling stuff. Demas is there and he hasn't just been watching. He's been part of that inner group. And Paul says, Demas, having loved this present world has deserted me.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. That tension between the world and the world's agenda.

Identifying Our Idols

Again, we can go back to it. Let me read it again. An idol, little children, guard yourselves from idols. That is anything and everything that would occupy a place in your heart that's due God. Any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life. We'll use the term that Brian introduced, that ultimate sense of satisfaction.

If I have that, here's how we can identify the idols. You finish the sentence. If I had blank, you fill it in, my life would be complete. If I lost blank, life wouldn't be worth living. If that's anything other than Jesus, whatever you just identified is an idol.

The Need for Contentment

Now in this struggle, what we tried to introduce, at least I tried to introduce last night, is the idea of contentment, satisfaction. Satisfaction with what I have and satisfaction with who I am, not complacency. There's a tape, and we give all our stuff away, so not selling you anything. But if you go to prioritylivingaz.org, there's a tape that I did, I don't know how many years ago, called Put a Lid on Your Dream. It's almost anti-American. And the idea was that idea of you need to define how much is enough. That contentment demands definition.

I used to, before God saved me, Vegas was a place I used to love to go. And I remember a story, and I would see it repeated over and over again. As we're flying up or driving up, people would say, if I lose $1,000, I'm going to stop playing. I remember being there one night with a guy, and we'd gone up together, and I walked by, and he was playing blackjack, and he had chips all over. I said, what are you doing? He said, I'm up like 1,500 bucks. I said, wow.

I saw him a day later. He's a goal-oriented man. He had a goal. What was his goal? Lose $1,000. And he was going to play until he did. And we're talking afterwards. I said, boy, have you ever won before? And he said, not really. And I said, man, if you won $1,500, wouldn't you be happy? And he said, yes. He had what would make him happy. It just wasn't defined.

Defining "Enough"

You need to begin to define that. And you need to live in the tension to understand that this family is going to define enough different than this family. God's going to bless this family in different ways. There's not a singular right answer for everybody to that, but there's an answer for you to say enough is enough of life, enough of this, enough of that, whatever it is, to put a lid on your dreams, to free you up.

I haven't played golf for almost a year. I'm on the injured reserve, but I'm feeling better. So I went and I played a couple weeks ago. And I went to the first tee and played with my friends. And they all had the, I think it's a TaylorMade, the white-headed, new white TaylorMade driver. And they said, you really need this driver.

I said, well, why don't you let me hit it? Let me just see how it swings. And, of course, I put that pure swing on it and hit it long and straight. It was amazing. I said to Sandy, I really want that driver. Now, I'm not going to

I hated that wristband that was popular years ago and the bumper sticker: "What would Jesus do?" I think I hated it because I didn't come up with it and make the dough on the deal. But I always thought, what would Jesus do? I never liked that question in the sense that if Jesus saw a blind man, He would go and deal with him. If I do that, all we get are germs. But I do think it's a fair question to say, what would God have me do? And it's not just a cliche to me.

What I think we're struggling with is questions like: what kind of driver would Jesus hit? What kind of golf club would God have me swing? Where would God have me live? So we'll go ahead and push on this a little bit.

Understanding Our Investments

I want you to see how much investment you make in your life in a really simple way. Let's take a shirt, for example. For your own good today, I wore a shirt. You don't want to see this without a shirt, trust me. I need a shirt.

Now, I can get a shirt for $5, $10, $20, $30. This shirt has a little polo pony on it. And the reason is, I really like this shirt. I have a whole drawer of these shirts. Someone gave me one. I like the way it fits. I like the way it feels. And that's how I ended up with a bunch of these shirts.

When I make a purchase, there's also an investment attached to that. I'm going to invest in one of four areas: pleasure, prestige, profit, or people. If it's just to get a shirt, let's establish I could get a shirt for $5. This shirt was $19, so let's say $20. I have a $15 investment because we established I can get this shirt for $5. So I've invested $15 in either pleasure, prestige, profit, or people.

Well, it's certainly not profit. The value of this is not going up. It's not people—it's not really benefiting you. Is it prestige? I do realize that a certain logo has a certain thing with some people who see it. Or is it pleasure? I love the way it feels. See, now I have to confront that with all the areas of my life.

So I buy a certain car. Let's say I can get a reliable car. You tell me, what's it cost? I want to get from here to there. I want to be reliable. I want to be safe. What's that cost? Let's say $5,000.

I was talking to this guy who pulls up to a Bible study I did. I said, "That is an awesome car that you have there." I had never seen this car before. He explained to me what it was and how it was made and all this. I said, "I'm just curious, and I don't want to pry, but what does a car like that cost?" He said, "About $145,000."

Here's what I want you to see. He has an investment of $140,000 in this car in either pleasure, prestige, profit, or people. I'm sure he was disappointed that I didn't know how much it cost. You see that?

Examining Every Area of Life

Now I have to begin to look at every area of my life like that. We talked about it the other day in terms of education. I have all sorts of friends that are going deeply in debt to send their kids to schools, and I'm not sure I understand why or if that's a good investment. Am I sending my kid to that school so I can stand at the Christmas party and say, "Biff is at Brown"? Is it pleasure? Prestige?

Why do I live where I live? Why do I wear what I wear? Where do I put a lid on my dream and say, "That's enough"? So those are the things—that's what I said we would do. That's where we've been.

Marching Orders: Rejoice and Live in Freedom

A couple of things for marching orders I want to give you. Rejoice and live in the freedom of the cross.

In the year 2000, I'm not sure why, I ended up with my daughter's journal. I was looking for something. I think with her permission I was in there. I started to read. Once I saw it, I said, "Is it okay for me to take this?" She said yes. Let me read you what she wrote:

"Many people feel that to follow Christ is losing everything and gaining nothing. But once we've been given freedom as Christians, often we forfeit that freedom and return again to the slavery by pursuing our own desires and following our flesh. We will one day realize that apart from Christ, we are not free. Our freedom looks nothing like the freedom the world looks for. The world looks for freedom to do as they please no matter what, no matter who they hurt along the way. Our freedom is to love as Christ loved and served as Christ served. Many say that sounds like bondage. But in following the truth, the truth will set you free."

Three Areas of Freedom

Let me give you three areas of freedom, and there are probably so many more.

**Freedom from the consequence of sin.** We're reconciled to God. We're connected with the creator God of the universe. We were lost and now found. We were blind, now we see. The gates of heaven have opened to us. We have communication with Him, the one true God.

In 2006, Reggie White was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He had passed away, and his son is the one who gave his acceptance speech. His son said this: "I want to thank God. Now I want to tell you which God." That we're in right relationship with Him. The consequence of sin, the chains—the chains have been broken.

It's not just heaven that's secure. It's life here. I was saved, passed, justified. I'm being saved, sanctified, and one day in the future, we will be glorified. We will be with Him, and we will be with Him forever. Free from the consequence of sin.

**Here's the second thing: free from the bondage of sin.** Paul writes to us now, and he writes about the hope that's in us. He writes about the new life. In Romans chapter 6, verse 11, Paul writes this: "So consider yourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. Therefore, don't let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its lust. Do not go on presenting your members of your body to sin, as instruments of unrighteousness."

The Freedom to Be Who God Created You to Be

But present them to God as those alive from the dead and members of your instruments of your body as righteousness. That's what I was. I was in bondage and sin. Paul says in this universal indictment of mankind, "No one does good. No, not one." But now I'm free from the bondage of sin. Now I can do good.

I'll give you one more freedom that probably gets overlooked. It's the freedom to be the person God created you to be. We come about it in so many different ways.

I have two daughters, and if you looked at them, they look very similar. When they were small, people thought they were twins when they were young. But they're very different people. To raise this is, I never treated them the same. John Wooden is one of my heroes. Wooden talked constantly about the fact he never treated his players the same, because they weren't the same. He would talk about how he would deal with one player, Gale Goodrich. If he dealt with Gale Goodrich in a certain way, and he dealt that way with another one of his players, they would have a totally different reaction.

God made you just the way you are. You may or may not like it. I wish, I don't spend a lot of time because I know what's up, I wish I was taller. I wish I had better legs. But they really are genetic. There's not much you can do about it. But I spend very little time as a follower of Christ going, "I wish I was something that I cannot change," because God obviously made me this way for a reason.

Even those yucky things in your past, those awful moments, God puts you in that family for a reason. God puts you in that city for a reason. God puts you in that neighborhood for a reason. To rejoice in the freedom to be who God designed you to be.

The way to live however you want to live in terms of taking your life and understanding that God is going to take you, bless you, place you in a certain way, and free you from the burden of trying to be or do somebody else.

Realistic Expectations for the Christian Life

The topic that comes up for me so often in this idea of living the Christian life, leaving here, going back to the real world, is having a realistic set of expectations of what the normal Christian life is going to be all about.

My first trip to the Christian bookstore, I went in and there were all sorts of, I didn't even know what to buy. All the books that looked good and were packaged good were really bad inside. All the ones that were pretty plain were pretty good. I'm checking out and there is a book on the rack called "The Promises of God, Gold Leaf, Leather Edition." I thought, well, I ought to know what those are. So I got the book and I started reading The Promises of God, they're pretty awesome.

As I read The Promises of God and then I read this, I realized there were some things in this book that didn't make it into The Promises of God book. "All those who desire to live godly lives, to live in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted." That one didn't get in there. All of a sudden, I realized that to be a follower of Christ does not make me immune from the human experience in the sense that there is suffering, pain, hardship.

It was about this time that I'm reading through the Bible and I get to James, and in James chapter 1 verse 2, right away he hits this and he says, "Consider it all joy, my friends, when you encounter various trials, knowing the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so you'll be perfect, complete, mature, lacking nothing."

Counting Trials as Joy

Here's what he says, "Count it all joy when you encounter various trials." I read that and I thought, isn't that interesting, the language? It doesn't say count it all joy if you encounter various trials, he said this is part of reality. When you encounter these various, the word means literally multi-colored, that these trials are going to come into your life and they're there to test you. They're going to allow you to begin to see who you really are.

Count it all joy when you encounter various trials. How? What's the key? You know something. You know the testing of your faith is to produce endurance. So when you pray, "God, I want to break the tape. I want to finish the race. God, make me faithful to the very end."

The last time, many of you know Bob Craning. Bob's taught up here many, many times and you've seen him maybe here at other places. Last time I had dinner with Craning, I said, "What are you working on?" Craning's now 80-something. He said, "I'm working on finishing strong." When you say, "God, I want endurance," He hears, "God, let me suffer. Let me have trials." It's the testing of my faith. It's the testing of my life that produces endurance.

Paraphrasing Martin Luther, he said to this effect, you can't begin to understand hope until you understand hopelessness. What trials do is pull us closer to Him.

God's Involvement in Our Suffering

R.C. Sproul writes this: "To remove God from human suffering is to quit the pilgrimage of faith. God majors in suffering. He disciplines and displays Himself in the holy involvement in all suffering. Rather than being removed from our suffering, it's true circumstances allow us to see God work."

Isn't that John 9? Disciples, Jesus, are walking in the city. There's the blind man. They ask the obvious question, "Who sinned, this guy or his parents?" And He said, "Neither one. It's that he might be a display case for the work of God." It's in human suffering that I begin to see God's power and strength.

It's also in human suffering, I think, we have the opportunity to really delve deep into real theology. Isn't it suffering that begins to ask, where is God in the midst? Where was God on 9-11? Well, the same place He was on 9-10 and 9-12, on the throne. Everything that happens in this world is either caused by or allowed by God. If that's not true, then He's not God.

Here's what I encourage all the time, is to listen to the world around you. I watch, not anymore, but I used to watch Oprah a lot. And I like...

Everything Happens for a Reason

Oprah has a phrase that she uses and people use all the time. This is a wonderful way to engage a conversation. Somebody would come on and their leg would fall off or whatever, and Oprah would say, "I believe everything happens for a reason." You hear that all around. You can walk up and down. There's probably some New Age store with a little plaque here in Cannon Beach that has this. Everything happens for a reason.

If that's true, then there has to be somebody who's in control. If there's a reason to it and a logic behind it, there has to be somebody that's in control. And whoever that person is, they have to be pretty powerful.

Now, Paul says it this way: "And we know God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." If you had a Bible and that Bible had only one verse in it and it was Romans 8:28, from that we can conclude that God is all-knowing and all-powerful. If all things work together for good, then God must know what's going to happen and He must have the power to influence what's going to happen.

The Temptation to Save God's Reputation

In this world, there is suffering and hardship and uncertainty all around us. And it's in moments like this that we're tempted to try to save God's reputation. There was a book very popular in the world and among many Christian circles. It's about almost thirty years old now called "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?" Chapter 7 of that book, the title is "God Can't Do Everything, But He Can Do Some Very Important Things."

Lots of Christians were telling me, "You got to read this book." That chapter and that book is born out of a man's loss of a son and his hurt and his pain. And he's trying to say, "Well, where does this fit together? Where is God in the midst of this?" In fact, talk about heresy. The author advises us to love God and, quote, "forgive Him despite His limitations."

God has structured and organized our lives to include problems and suffering. Your mission is not to stop the suffering, but to find Him in the midst of the hurt and pain and not to be absorbed in the pain and necessarily try to find a way out. Isn't that what happens all the time? Somebody comes to us with hurting and we try to find five steps, six steps, a plan, a strategic plan to relieve that. And that's okay, but I think we can miss the fact that sometimes God majors in suffering.

Why We Suffer

Why would you suffer in this life? Here's just a partial list: to produce patience and joy and maturity, to be taught, to make us like Christ. I love this—to reveal ourselves to ourselves.

That suffering comes in all shapes and sizes. So if I say to you, "You're going to be tested today," you let something come to your mind right now. In almost for certain in that moment, it was a sickness, a loss of a child, loss of a job, a financial issue, a relational issue. And indeed, those are real tests, but there's also the test of prosperity—to not wander from Him in the good times. The test that's there: "Count it all joy when you encounter various trials."

Along comes this thing that you can't possibly imagine, and you're thinking you're the giant of the faith, and this little inconvenience comes along and destroys your day. It allows us to begin to minister to others. It begins to wean us from earthly things. There's all sorts of reasons that we suffer. There's all sorts of reasons that we have those trials.

When Suffering Comes

Let me give you five, six, seven things when suffering comes into your life. I'll give it to you, and then we'll call this a morning.

**Number one: Don't be surprised by it.** You know what Peter writes: "Don't be surprised by these fiery ordeals." Don't be taken back by it. It's the normal Christian life.

Paul speaks autobiographically in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Let me read it to you, beginning in verse 8, and I'm going to read from The Message. Paul speaking of his life: "You know yourselves, we're not much to look at. Here's what Paul says: We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized. We're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do. We've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side. We've been thrown down, but we aren't broken." The apostle Paul. Don't be surprised by this.

**Here's the second thing in the midst of this:** These trials, tribulations, suffering comes. You commit yourself to the Lord. I'm going to trust Him. Go back to that Daniel chapter 1 verse 8, where Daniel resolved in his mind.

A Cannon Beach Story

In the midst of this, I watched my wife Susan. This is a story, it's a Cannon Beach story. We did a Labor Day conference eight years ago. And then you all left, and we got to stay for an extra couple days. And from the Pacific Lodge to Haystack Rock is one mile. And Susan and I walked down.

And when we're in places like this, we probably have these philosophical questions and discussions like, "Could I live here? What are we going to do with the rest of our lives?" We walked down, we're walking back. We're just coming back up into our room. And I said, "You know, unless there's something catastrophic economically which can happen in the world—there's nothing we can do about that—the only thing that can screw us up is if one of us gets sick."

And that was in September. It was in November that she was diagnosed with her cancer. And what I watched her do that was so powerful was to commit herself to the Lord at the very beginning of that process. They told her she had six months, maybe a year to live. She lived seven. She made some determinations because it's really interesting. When something like this happens, everybody has a cure. They have an aunt that did something.

Do you have a good doctor? And I would say, no. We got this quack who works out of his van from Mexico. But people don't know what to say, and I get it. Do you have a good doctor? No. We found the worst guy. We went online, found the worst guy, graduated the bottom of his class at Bob's Medical School in Telemach.

Here's what she did. She said, I'm going to commit myself to this path medically, and I'm going to trust God to figure this out, whatever He does. And what she boldly asked for, because Haley was pregnant at the time, what she boldly asked for was to see her grandson be born. She saw six of those kids. Isn't that awesome?

She resolved in her mind, and she never looked back, and it was horrific. There was an emotional pain. In the last two years, in the last year especially, there was lots of physical pain. And she became a powerful testimony to all the people around her. Commit yourself to the Lord for the thing. I trust Him, whether He heals or doesn't.

When People Want to Help

I used to try to say this to people. I had a guy that I didn't know send me a juicer and all of these things that go with it. And he said, you don't know me, but I really understand your wife is sick, and I want to help her. And I used that as an illustration to try to move us in the area of evangelism.

Let's say Susan survived cancer. I assume we understand something's going to kill her. Here's a guy who I don't even know who sends me a juicer so that I can avoid death temporarily. We have people all around us who we know are going to die. We've got something more powerful than a juicer, Jesus. Do we tell them about Him? And as all these things came along, Susan just committed herself to the Lord.

Don't Try to Understand Everything

Here's the third thing I write. Don't try to understand all this. And I'm not trying to be intellectually stupid. I'm just saying it's arrogant to think that your mind is going to comprehend all that God has or that God owes you an answer for this. This is helpful. You're not the only person that's ever suffered.

When I get the flu, it was not this year but last year around Christmas, I got the flu. And I remember saying to Susan at the time who was very sick, you're going to have to take care of me because no one's ever had the flu like this. This is a strain of flu that's unique to the 7 billion people that are on the planet. You know what suffering and hardship does? It gets you looking at yourself, talking about yourself. It becomes the discussion. So everyone you meet says, how do you feel? How are you doing?

And what Susan was awesome at is she would say, I'm doing fine. How are you doing? And most people can't stay focused on you long enough because they want to talk about themselves anyway. And they'll start talking about their life.

The Power of Prayer

Here's the fifth thing, pray. I was invited about a year ago to pray at the city council meeting, which is not big. I mean, they have somebody do this all the time. I was the closing prayer. I thought it was the opening prayer, so I just sit through the council meeting. The council is used to every pastor coming in, and the prayer is their opportunity to dazzle the council and to give them a sermon.

So the mayor said, Reverend Tom Schrader is here to close our council meeting with prayer. Reverend Schrader, will you pray? Here's what I prayed. Father, we pray to you, and that alone proves two things. Number one, we think you can change things. Number two, we think you care. Amen. And the council was like, we need to have this guy pray all the time. This is the praying guy.

When you pray, you're acknowledging to God that He can do something about it or that He cares.

Thank God for Your Suffering

This may sound odd in your suffering. Thank God for it. Why? Well, I'm supposed to count it all joy when I encounter various trials. If indeed He's going to work through this, then you need to let Him work and thank Him for it. Give thanks in all things.

We had a staff member who had brain cancer, battled it for two years, and that was his favorite verse. God, thank you for the cancer. Not sure what you're going to do. Going to do something special. Why would God give me this? Well, ultimately, I can at least do this for my good and His glory, ultimately.

Don't Become a Victim

Two more things quickly. Don't become a martyr. Don't become the victim. And then don't suffer needlessly. I was always stunned when Jesus asked the sick man, do you want to be healed?

Obedient Suffering vs. Disobedient Prospering

I have in my life, people who've had influence on me, the man who's had the most influence on me in my life, this guy by the name of Larry Wright. And I'm driving along one day and I'm listening to one of Larry's tapes. And he said, I would rather suffer obediently than prosper disobediently, because I know my obedient suffering is as temporary as my disobedient prospering.

And I'm listening to this tape. I said, this is incredible. What is that? Rewind. And I went home and I called him. I said, Doc, listen to this is what I heard today. I heard a guy say, I'd rather suffer obediently than prosper disobediently, because I know my obedient suffering is as temporary as my disobedient prospering. He said, that's amazing. Who said that? And I said, that was you, buddy.

Isn't that amazing? You ought to get that. Break it down. I'd rather suffer than prosper, because the suffering is an obedient suffering. The prospering, in this case, is disobedient. I'd rather suffer obediently than prosper disobediently, because I know something. There's a temporariness to all of this.

Our True Citizenship

Here's what I love to tell the people at church. Remember that no matter how bad it gets, it can only last a lifetime. And that's why I'm here. My citizenship is in heaven, and I'm God's ambassador here. In Paul's day and Paul's language in the Roman Empire, that had a very different meaning. Let me just read you. It's a long quote, but it's really worth hanging in there. One of the scholars talks about this idea of Paul's metaphor of citizenship. Paul's metaphor of citizenship

The Meaning of Citizenship

Only makes sense in its first century context. Paul could rely on his citizenship to help him out of a legal bind for being a Roman citizen meant having great privileges. Now, hang in with me. This is really good.

The citizenship metaphor, however, extends far beyond privileges and rights, such as a fair trial. The Roman Empire was a conglomerate, a patchwork quilt of nations and city-states. For the empire to run smoothly required uniformity. Greek was the official language. The Parthenon of gods were the official religion. Caesar and the Roman Senate, the law of the land.

Rome's Strategy of Unity

This uniformity also came about through Rome's program of decreasing national ethnic identities and increasing a central identity. One's allegiance was not, for example, first to Philippi or to Israel, to Alexandria. It was to Rome.

Rome would deport its citizens to various nations and city-states it conquered, dispersing them throughout the empire. Rome would also force its citizens from established cities to move even to far reaches of the empire. Long before the waves of immigration were made to America, the greatest melting pot of the modern world, the Roman Empire, attempted to bring about the entire Mediterranean under one roof. It was Rome first, a Philippian or Jew or Alexandrian second.

Our True Mission as Citizens

So to be a Roman citizen living in Philippi or wherever did not mean you spent your time pining away for the good life in the city of Rome. It did not mean that you longed to get out of Philippi, out of Asia Minor, and back to where your heart was in the city of Rome. Instead, it meant that you were entrusted with the task of bringing Rome and all its achievements and glory to Philippi or Jerusalem or Alexandria or wherever you found yourself.

One scholar in his commentary on Philippians put it together for us like this. Just as Philippi was a colony of Rome, whose citizens thereby exemplified the life of Rome in the providence of Macedonia, so the citizens of the heavenly commonwealth were to function as a colony of heaven in the outpost of Rome. That we are to bring the message of Christ, of reconciliation, and the beauty of pushing back the fall to the cities around us.

The Core Truth We Must Remember

Let me give you Larry's thing one more time. I'd rather suffer obediently than prosper disobediently because I understand my obedient suffering is as temporary as my disobedient prospering. Though the outer man is decaying, the inner man is being renewed day by day for momentary light affliction produces for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

It's what we started with the first night. It's what we end the morning sessions with. I'm saved by God. Why we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Why we were helpless, Christ died for us. Why we were His enemies, Christ died for us. He died for us in spite of us, not because of us.

The Complete Picture of Salvation

I'm saved by God from God, Romans 5:9. Now having been justified by His blood, we're saved from the wrath of God through Him. I'm saved by God, from God, for God. What's the chief end of man? The chief and highest end of man is to glorify God and fully enjoy Him forever. Whether then you eat or drink, whatever you do, you do for the glory of God. First Corinthians 10:31.

Living in the Real World

You'll leave this place kind of a safe haven. Boy, if you can't pull it off here, it's going to be really hard in the real world. I want you to understand something, that there is in your life this collision of value systems. The battle with idols. The heart's the idol factory, constantly creating idols. Things that would take God and push Him aside.

So we ask ourselves, why? Why do I act that way? And ultimately it will be my sin. And the solution to my sin is what? The cross. So I preach the gospel to myself every day. Not a gospel that just gets me into heaven, but a gospel that sustains me in this life. As I deal with my kids, as I deal with each other, as I deal at work.

Let me pray for us as we close our morning time. Father, thank you for this amazing truth. God, thank you for saving us. Saving us from religion, from our human efforts, from our misplaced affections. God, thank you for allowing us to see who you really are. You are everything, we are nothing. But with you, we can be something. Thank you for grace, mercy. God, we love you, but even then, it's because you first loved us. Father, we praise you here this morning. We do it in Christ's name. Amen.