February 4, 2007 message by Pastor Rich Doebler
Some things always stay the same. Water still boils at 212° Fahrenheit and freezes at 32°. Light still travels at about 186,282 miles per second. Objects still fall at 32 feet per second per second. A pound is still 454 grams. And the phone still rings whenever I sit down to eat.
Some things are never supposed to change. We depend on them always to be reliable. For instance, we have the Weights and Measures Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Department of Commerce. They insure that when you buy a gallon of gasoline, you get a gallon of gasoline. They make sure that General Mills puts a full 24 ounces of Cheerios in the box that says 24 ounces on the outside.
In these days, we need something more reliable than a government agency! It's one thing to be certain about weights and measures, but we need to be certain about other things as well. We need to know for sure what we can count on. We need to know what is reliable.
Years ago, when Ole quit farming and moved, he discovered he was the only Lutheran in his new town of all Catholics. That was okay, but the neighbors had a problem with his barbecuing beef every Friday. Back then, they were not allowed to eat red meat on Fridays, but the tempting aroma was getting the best of them. Beside themselves, they got together and confronted Ole.
"Ole," they said, "since you are the only Lutheran in this whole town and there's not a Lutheran church for many miles, we think you should join our church and become a Catholic." Ole thought about it for a minute and decided they were right. Ole talked to the priest, and they arranged it.
The big day came, and the priest had Ole kneel. He put his hand on Ole's head and said, "Ole, you were born a Lutheran, you were raised a Lutheran, and now," he said as he sprinkled some water over Ole's head, "you are a Catholic!"
Both Ole and the neighbors were happy. But the following Friday evening, the aroma of grilled beef still wafted from Ole's yard. The neighbors went to talk to him about this, and as they approached the fence they heard Ole saying something strangely familiar to the steak: "You were born a beef, you were raised a beef, and now" he said as he sprinkled barbeque sauce over the meat, "you are a fish!"
Abe Lincoln said: If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a cow have? Answer: only four. Just because you call a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. A lot of people in society are changing labels and calling things what they are not. There's a lot of confusion and uncertainty in the world today.
We live in a time when many don't know what to believe in anymore. They don't know who they can trust anymore. They've lost their confidence.
Our society has seen values and morals and standards erode away. TV, movies, and the entertainment industry have done their part. Technology — with its potential for good also has potential for evil and has affected morals as a result. Medical advances, for all their good, have also made possible the sexual revolution.
Many people today say there really are no absolutes. They say what's right or wrong depends on various factors. What's true for you, may not be true for me, they say. Relativism has warped the conscience of our nation.
Today and for the next few Sundays, we're going to look at things you can know for sure. Things that are absolutes — things you can count on being true. We're going to look at things like the truths and principles that come from the Word of God, from the teachings of Jesus, and so on.
If you've ever struggled with internal conflict and doubt, if you've ever wondered what's true and what isn't, then make a point to catch every one of these messages. Because we're going to go back to basics — back to the foundational truths that come from God: Timeless Truths for Today.
I want you to know, when you commit yourself to God, then you have found something — Someone — you can count on. You can depend on the Lord no matter what challenges or difficulties you're going through, no matter where you find yourself.
God is completely trustworthy. Reliable. You might not always be able to understand his ways or explain his works, but you can always trust him. You can build your life on his truths, because they are timeless truths. The principles God gave to the ancient prophets in his Word are still true today.
Despite the passage of time — despite centuries and millenniums, despite the shift in cultures and societies, despite the advancement of technology and science, we can still have confidence in the Lord. Despite all the changes in the world, we can still trust God and his Word to be true.
In the OT book of Malachi, God said: "I the Lord do not change" (Malachi 3:6, NIV).
Moses said that even before the mountains were born, even before God made the earth and the world, "from everlasting to everlasting," he said, "you are God" (Psalms 90:2, NIV). That means that before time began and long after it ends, God is over all.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews in the NT said: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8, NIV).
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8, NIV).
David wrote in the Psalms: "...from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children" (Psalms 103:17, NIV).
God is forever. His Word and his love are forever. This is important to realize when we consider the uncertainty of the times we live in.
One reason our times are so uncertain and unstable is that society has come to believe a lie. We rely on a faulty premise: that the human intellect is supreme. We live in a day and an age where our culture has elevated human intellect to an exalted position that should only be occupied by God. Our culture worships the mind and rational thinking.
Years ago, I found a number in the phone book: Dial-an-Atheist. I called just to see what the atheist would say to me. He said: "Don't trust anything you can't see or anybody that says anything that doesn't make sense to your own way thinking." In other words, he said I should trust my mind because I couldn't see God. I have faith when I trust in God. But the atheist also has faith when he trusts his mind.
Now, it's good to use our heads. God gave us brains so we could use them. But it's wrong to worship them. In honoring the human intellect above God, we forget that our way of thinking is limited.
The human mind cannot comprehend the mysteries of God. Some things don't make sense to human thinking, but we can live with that if we learn to trust in God.
We must learn to trust God more. We must learn to rely more upon his Word! We must realize that God provides us with timeless truths that apply for today as well as for times past. He gives us timeless principles to follow that can make a positive difference in the way we live.
If instead of trusting God, we trust only the things we can understand with our human mind — only the things that make rational sense — then we set ourselves up for:
1. Negative thinking. We all have our own unique perspective on life — as though we wear tinted glasses. If we don't train ourselves to see things from God's point of view, then it's easy to color our world with negative thinking: nothing ever works out... something always goes wrong... nobody likes me... I could never do that...
- Result: We pull ourselves down. We sink to our level of expectation.
- God's Timeless Truth: "Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts" Proverbs 4:23, TEV);
"6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7, NLT).
2. Anemic action. We will lack the passion and the faith to respond with a full heart to the challenges of life. Fatalism (giving up, accepting whatever comes) can undermine our enthusiasm and determination.
- Result: we will have no motivation or willpower to act in faith.
- God's Timeless Truth: "if people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing... faith that does nothing is worth nothing..." (James 2:14, 20, NCV). "...faith without actions is dead" (James 2:26, TEV).
3. A mediocre life. We will limit God's work in our lives. We will fail to believe his promises; we will overlook his blessings. God may be ready to work a miracle in our lives, but we're too consumed with worry or trying to understand with our mind, that we can't see what God is doing.
- Result: we become satisfied with less than God's best, not believing he would want to do more in us or thinking we don't deserve better.
- God's Timeless Truth: "3 ...we are God's house if we keep on being very sure about our great hope... 12 So...be careful that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that will turn you away from the living God. 13 But encourage each other every day while it is ‘today.' Help each other so none of you will become hardened because sin has tricked you. 14 We all share in Christ if we keep till the end the sure faith we had in the beginning" (Hebrews 3:3,12-14, NCV).
- This is a call to keep on trusting...
4. Disappointment. We will live frustrated lives. We will see things only from a temporary, earthly perspective. We will not be able to see the big picture — the eternal perspective. We will see only the short-range problems instead of God's eternal purpose.
- Result: caught in a downward spiral, disappointment à discouragement à lack of confidence à defeat and failure à more disappointment... But God wants us to face life's problems and setbacks with hope and confidence.
- God's Timeless Truth: "...we have confidence in God through Christ [through Christ we feel certain before God (NCV)]. There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God" (2 Corinthians 3:4-5, TEV).
- David prayed: "From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (Psalms 61:2, NIV)
- When we feel weak and frustrated, we can find stability and security in the solid Rock that is higher, then we no longer have to live disappointed, frustrated lives.
In the frigid waters around Greenland are countless icebergs, some little and some gigantic. If you'd observe them carefully, you'd notice that sometimes the small ice floes move in one direction while their massive counterparts flow in another. The explanation is simple. Surface winds drive the little ones, whereas the huge masses of ice with the largest parts submerged far beneath the surface are carried along by deep ocean currents.
When we face the disappointments of trials and tragedies, we need to have something deeper that holds us steady. We should not be blown around by troubles and the uncertainties of life, the changes in society, or the shifting winds of culture. We should instead stay on course — moved along by the deep currents of God's Holy Spirit.
5. Lack of purpose. We will wander aimlessly through life, finding no direction or meaning or fulfillment in what we do.
- Result: We will be deaf to God's call and plan. We will not be or do what God has intended for us.
- God's Timeless Truth: "God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works [a life of good deeds (TEV)], which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing" (Ephesians 2:10, NCV).
- "But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations" (Psalms 33:11, NIV).
Ravi Zacharias tells about speaking one time at Ohio State University. As he was being driven to the lecture, they passed the newly built Wexner Art Center. The driver said, "This is a new art building for the university. It is a fascinating building designed in the post-modernist view of reality."
The building has no pattern. Staircases go nowhere. Pillars support nothing. The architect designed the building to reflect life. It went nowhere and was mindless and senseless. It depicted the view that so many have about life — that because it can't be explained or understood, it's meaningless and has no purpose.
Ravi turned to the man describing it and asked, "Did they do the same thing with the foundation?" He laughed.
You can't build a foundation aimlessly without any plan or design. You might get away with doing that to the infrastructure. You can get away with random thoughts that sound good in defense of a world view that ultimately doesn't make sense. But once you start tampering with the foundations, you begin to see serious effects.
Ravi Zacharias says: "The foundations are in jeopardy; the foundations of our culture do not provide coherent sets of answers any more." [Ravi Zacharias, "If the Foundations Be Destroyed," Preaching Today, Tape No. 142.]
We live in strange times! Society has been tampering with the foundations and we're increasingly seeing the results — crime is on the rise, the prison population is exploding, promiscuity and loose living is paraded on TVs in our living rooms, defiance and irresponsibility fill the newspapers and the courtrooms.
Let's turn again to God. Let's remember the solid, dependable foundation God offers us through his Son and his Word!