Real Jesus - Part 2: Santa Claus Jesus

The following is from The Crossroads Community Church message series "Real Jesus" by Pastor Shawn Kemp.

During the Christmas season, we are taking a look at who Jesus really is. After all, Jesus is who Christmas is all about. It’s his birthday that we are celebrating.

You see, there are a lot of people who say they like Jesus, but they don’t necessarily know a lot about Jesus. For a lot of people, Jesus is little more than a plastic bobble-head doll that is kind of amusing and makes you smile and they have good feelings about him, but that’s about all there is to their image of Jesus. But the real Jesus is so much more phenomenal, so much more amazing, so much more incredible. And, so, what we are doing in this series is we are just looking at some of the popular images and ideas of Jesus that are out there, and comparing those images with the real Jesus.

Jesus one time posed the same kind of question to his disciples.

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’”

Who do you say that I am? Here’s why this is so important. Because our view of Jesus has a huge impact on the way we live our lives. Your view of Jesus will effect the way you treat other people, the way you pray, the risks you are willing to take in life, the way you impact the world around you, the things you give your time and energy and talents and money to. Your view of Jesus affects your work and your marriage and your relationships with your children and your friends and your family. Who you see Jesus to be, how you understand Jesus affects just about every part of your life.

So, last week we looked at “Jesus Is My Homeboy,” pop culture Jesus, Jesus on t-shirts and Jesus on television and the movies, Jesus on a cross around your neck, the Jesus who is popular and everybody loves. And we discovered the truth that Jesus is popular, that people are drawn to Jesus. But we also saw that Jesus’ teachings are often unpopular and that following Jesus requires commitment.

Now, this week, we are looking at a second popular image of Jesus, Santa Claus Jesus. Santa Claus Jesus is Jesus who is very much like Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. This image of Jesus is Jesus who loves everybody. He is jolly and immensely friendly and kind and loving and warm. He has a beard. He smiles a lot. And he wears a white robe with a red sash. This version of Jesus is an important holiday symbol. After all, it is Christmas. Now, for this holiday symbol, instead of making the annual trek to the mall to see him, you go to church to see him. Maybe you have him in a nativity set or you send out Christmas cards with pictures of him on them. Santa Claus Jesus loves children. I mean, the pictures of him look a lot like Santa. He’s sitting down and he’s got kids in his lap whispering in his ear. You tell me, haven’t you seen those pictures of Jesus?

But at the heart of Santa Claus Jesus is you tell him whatever you want, and he gives it to you. Just like when you sit on Santa’s lap and tell him your Christmas wishes, Santa Claus Jesus you use the format of prayer, but you tell him whatever you want or need and he gives it to you. And there are a lot of preachers who promote the idea of Santa Jesus. You need a car, you need a raise, you need a bigger house, nicer clothes, a new boyfriend, whatever you could possibly desire, you tell it to Jesus, wait a little while, and he will give it to you if you’ve been a good boy or girl. In this respect, Santa Jesus is very similar to Jesus in a Lamp, rub the lamp, out pops Jesus you tell him your wishes and he grants them, or slot machine Jesus. Pull the arm of prayer enough times and you’re bound to hit the jackpot.

So, that’s Santa Claus Jesus. Now, what’s the reality, the real Jesus and is there any truth to Santa Jesus? Well, first, Jesus loves people. There is some truth to that aspect of the Santa Jesus. Jesus loves people. Probably one of the most famous verses in the Bible is John 3:16: "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jesus whole existence, his whole reason to coming to earth and becoming a man, is bound up in the love of God for people. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. The motivation behind Christmas is the love of God. The purpose of Jesus is the demonstration of God’s love.

So, the idea that the Santa Jesus loves people is not wrong. I just don’t think it goes far enough. If the love of God is just a warm fuzzy toward everybody, it is not nearly as incredible as the real love of the real Jesus. God so loved the world. He loves red people and brown people and black people and white people and tan people. He loves people who speak Spanish or English or Korean or Arabic or Swahili. He loves men and women, children and adults, short people and tall people, fat people and skinny people, pretty people and ugly people. He loves people who are kind and gentle and generous.

But he also loves people who are cruel and wicked. He loves addicts and prostitutes and liars and thieves. He even loved the people who nailed him to a cross. And he loves people who will ultimately reject him and spend eternity separated from him. Santa Claus loves you if you’ve been a good little girl or boy. But if you are naughty, there’s not going to be much for you in Santa’s bag of goodies. But that is not the love of the real Jesus. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus loved us while we were still his enemies, while we were still set against him. And the gift Jesus gave was not a doll that talks or a pair of skates, but the gift of his own life.

Why did he do it? Look at 1 John 4:9: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” God loves us and he showed it by sending his Son, so that we could have life. Here’s the great thing. Jesus loves us even while we are sinners, but he loves us even more than that. He loves us so much that he is not content to leave us like we are. His love is a love that changes us. You see, Santa says that you have to be a good little boy or girl, but he doesn’t do anything to help you be good. Jesus changes you from the inside out so that we might live through him.

Jesus loves people. Second, Jesus can meet all my needs. Again, there’s some truth here behind Santa Jesus. The idea that Jesus can meet whatever needs I bring to him is absolutely correct. Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” My need will never exceed God’s supply. God owns it all, so there will never come a time in my life that God cannot meet the needs in my life if I bring them to him. Look at Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” That seems like a pretty open-ended promise, doesn’t it? Whatever you ask for, believe it and you’ll receive it. That sounds like the Santa Claus Jesus.

But look again at Philippians 4:19. There’s a part of that verse that we often miss, the last part. In Christ Jesus. The greatest riches God has to offer are found in Jesus Christ. We so often are asking God for stuff, for money and possessions and cars and houses, and God is saying, “But wait, I have so much more to give you.” Jesus Christ was the greatest treasure heaven had to offer. The greatest treasures God has to give you have nothing to do with money or possessions. The greatest treasures are the things God wants to give you in a relationship with Jesus. It’s not that Jesus gives us treasure. He is the treasure.

We ask for the wrong things and with the wrong motives, so God doesn’t give us the things we ask for.

“You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James 4:2-3

When I was in the eighth grade, I got in a fight on the school bus one afternoon. I prayed and prayed for God to not let me get a paddling. I made God all sorts of promises. Monday, when school came around, you know what happened? I got a paddling. Jesus is not Santa Claus. He’s not a genie in a lamp, and he’s not a slot machine. He gives us the things we need, and he wants to give us so much more if we would ask him for those things.
The problem is not that we pursue pleasure to satisfy the needs in our lives. The problem is that we are satisfied with such meaningless pleasures.

Here’s the secret, the secret to getting what you ask for in prayer. Ps. 37:4: “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” When you get to the point that God is your heart’s desire, where following God and his will for your life is all that you want, where you desire to know him better and love him more, where the cry of your heart is Jesus himself, then God will always grant your request. Santa wants to give you stuff. Jesus wants to give you himself, and that is so much better than stuff. Jesus can meet my needs.

Then, third, Jesus gives and he takes away. Just like Santa Claus, Jesus gives gifts. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 6:23. God offers an incredible gift through Jesus, the gift of eternal life. And all you have to do to get that gift is receive it. You don’t earn it. You don’t work for it. You don’t have to try to be a good enough person. You don’t have to straighten your life out. You don’t have to try to impress anybody. All you have to do is receive the gift of God by believing in Jesus Christ, making him the leader of your life, and asking him to forgive you of your sins.

You see, some people have this mistaken idea that Jesus is like Santa Claus when it comes to good boys and girls. They think he’s making a list and checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty and nice. And just like Santa Claus, they think God has this list where he keeps track of every good thing you’ve ever done, and every bad thing you’ve ever done. And if there are more good things on the list than bad things, then you are a good little boy or girl and God lets you into heaven.

Now, there are two ways that people generally react to that idea. Some people think they are good. They think they are a pretty good person, they’ve lived a good enough life, and they are on the nice list. But, man, I’m not comfortable with staking my eternity on whether or not I’ve been good enough. To think that I have to work my way into heaven. I mean, talk about making you paranoid. There’s no security there. How do I know if I’ve done enough good stuff. Man, I can’t even keep track of all the bad stuff I’ve done, all the times I had a bad thought, all the mean things I’ve said, all the times I told a lie, all the times I let a friend down, all the times I’ve acted selfishly. I don’t have a shot.

Then there are people who think they are for sure on the naughty list and there’s no way they could ever get in. There’s no way God could ever forgive them. They think they have permanently screwed up their lives.

Well, let me show you God’s list, and what Jesus has done with that list. Colossians 2:13-14:

“When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins. He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross.”

Charges for a crucified man were listed above him. Jesus took our list. It’s as if on the cross, Jesus took the charges that were intended for us, and they were nailed above his head. He took our list, and he destroyed it on the cross.

You see, Jesus does what Santa can’t do. He doesn’t just give, he also takes away. You see, Santa can’t do anything about your discouragement. Santa leaves and you’ve still got to deal with a broken relationship with your husband or wife. When bills need to be paid in January, Santa is long gone. When you are trying to overcome an addiction in February, Santa is no help. When your kid is in a car wreck after the prom, Santa is no help. When you are going through the pain of a divorce, he’s nowhere to be found. When you are struggling with worry or doubt or confusion, when you are crying because of guilt or anger or hurt, when you are depressed and alone and afraid, Santa’s no help.

But there is a Savior, named Jesus Christ, who came to take all that away. Look at 1 John 3:5: “[Jesus] appeared so that he might take away our sins.” You see, Jesus offers us this wonderful, incredible, amazing deal. He says, “You give me all your guilt and all your hurt and all your sin and all your doubt and worry and confusion and anger and addiction, give me all your stuff, and I’ll give you all my righteousness and all my peace and all my joy and all my love, I’ll give you all my stuff.” That’s a really good deal. So, how about you? Are you willing to make that deal.

Remember all the anticipation you had waiting for Santa to arrive. Well, Jesus is way better than Santa Claus, and you can have the greatest gift of all this Christmas if you give your life to Jesus.

Real Jesus - Part 1: Jesus Is My Homeboy

The following is from The Crossroads Community Church message series "Real Jesus" by Pastor Shawn Kemp.

Good morning! Hey, today we are starting a new series called “Real Jesus.” We are entering into the Christmas season, and we are preparing for Christmas, and Jesus is what Christmas is all about. I mean, it’s a celebration of his birth. So, I thought, what better way to spend the month of December than focusing on Jesus.

And the way we are going to do that is we are going to be looking at some different images, different ideas of Jesus that are out there and seeing what is the truth behind them? Jesus once questioned his disciples about some of the ideas people had about him:

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’” Matthew 16:13-15 (NIV)

Who do you say that I am? Our view of Jesus has a huge impact on the way we live our lives. How many of you have seen the movie Talladega Nights? Yeah, some of you are embarassed to admit it. Talladega Nights tells the story of Ricky Bobby, a NASCAR racer. And, there's this one seen where Ricky Bobby is sitting at the table with his family and best friend, Cal Naughton, Jr. And Ricky Bobby says the prayer, and he says, "Dear little baby Jesus in manger..." And he continues to address Jesus throughout the prayer as "Dear 8lb 6oz baby Jesus ... Dear tiny God ... use your little baby Jesus powers." Well, at one point in the prayer, his wife gets frustrated and says, "Ricky, I don't know why you keep referring to Jesus as a baby. He was a grown man, you know. He had a beard, for crying out loud." To which Ricky Bobby responds, "I like the baby Jesus best. When you say the prayer you can pray to teenage Jesus or grown up Jesus or whichever Jesus you like best." To which Ricky's friend Cal says, "I like to think of Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt. It's like he's formal but here for the party." Then Ricky's son Walker (his brother's name is Texas Ranger) says, "I like to think of Jesus as a ninja, battling evil samurai." Then, Cal says, "I like to think of Jesus with these giant golden eagles' wings and singing lead for Lynard Skynard surrounded by an angel band."

There are a lot of people who have a lot of different ideas about who Jesus is and what he is like. There are a lot of people who have some understanding of Jesus and maybe they even like Jesus, but do they have a proper understanding of who Jesus really is? What tends to happen is that we fashion Jesus in our own image. We make Jesus out to be the kind of Jesus that we would like for him to be. “I like to think of Jesus as a ninja.” Or, on the other hand, sometimes our view of Jesus is fashioned by the hangups and hurts and failures in our lives. Some people see Jesus as the culmination of everything that is wrong in their lives.

The point, however, is that often our images of Jesus fall far short of the real Jesus. What we wind up with is a plastic Jesus, a bobble-head Jesus who is a shallow imitation of the real deal. Listen, I’m guilty. I have this image of Jesus in my head and what I think he was like. But there are times that I am reading the Bible and I have to take a step back and reevaluate because the Jesus I find in the Bible doesn’t match the Jesus I have in my head. He’s saying something or doing something that I can’t grasp.

The real Jesus is so much better than the imitations, so much better than the plastic bobble-head Jesus. So, how do we get at the real Jesus? It’s by going back to the Bible. We constantly have to take our images of Jesus back to the real Jesus we find in the Bible and see if our images of Jesus really match up.

The Jesus in the Bible is the incredible, awesome, amazing, awe-inspiring Son of God who is worthy of worship. The Jesus in the Bible laughed and made jokes and had fun with his disciples and poked fun at people who took themselves too seriously. The Jesus in the Bible cried and hurt for people who were sorrowing and felt compassion for others. He got angry, overturning tables, using a whip, pronouncing judgment on cities that rejected him and people who turned away from him. He was often confusing and difficult to understand and hard to follow. He said things that upset the wrong people and he said things that upset the people who were closest to him. He was at the same time more and less than what people expected. He was full of paradoxes. He was God and man. He was lion and lamb. He was altogether lovely and he had nothing in his appearance that would draw us to him.

That’s the Jesus that we are going to be trying to discover as we look at some of the other ideas about Jesus that are popular out there. So, the first one we are going to look at is “Jesus Is My Homeboy.” Now, just a little explanation, if you aren’t aware of the Jesus Is My Homeboy phenomenon, it is a slogan and a logo that is on everything from T-shirts to hats to bumper stickers to underwear. It has become immensely popular, especially among Hollywood celebrities like Brad Pitt, Ashton Kutcher, Madonna, Jessica Simpson, they’ve all been spotted wearing Jesus Is My Homeboy paraphernalia.

So, Jesus Is My Homeboy is pop culture Jesus. He’s the Jesus who everybody likes, everybody is okay with, everybody is comfortable with. He’s the Jesus who’s cool to like, the Jesus who even Hollywood celebrities can like.

So, what’s the truth behind pop culture Jesus? The truth is Jesus is popular. People like Jesus. Surveys show that most people like Jesus. People are drawn to him. Even people who don’t profess to be followers of Jesus tend to like Jesus. And it has always been that way. “When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him” Matthew 8:1 (NIV). Have you ever noticed in the Bible, the crowds tended to like Jesus? They stalked him wherever he went. I mean, the Bible says a number of times that Jesus tried to get away from the crowds but they just followed him wherever he went. Jesus drew crowds out in the middle of nowhere upwards of fifteen to twenty thousand people. And that’s before marketing strategies, public relations campaigns, radio, television, the internet, podcasts, even P.A. systems. It was all on the strength of who he was, what he did, what he taught. There was a magnetism to Jesus that drew people.

And there still is. Yeah, a lot of the people wearing the Jesus Is My Homeboy t-shirts or wearing a cross around their necks or who pray or go to church or sing Christmas songs or listen to Christian radio don’t really know a lot about Jesus, but that does not diminish the fact that people are drawn to Jesus. There’s just something about Jesus. There’s an old song that says, “There’s just something about that name.” And it’s true.

Now, there were obviously some things about Jesus that people were and are attracted to. Luke 4:40 says,

“As the sun went down that evening, people throughout the village brought sick family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed every one.”

Jesus was the most amazing thing to come to town. And he still is. The touch of his hand still heals everyone, no matter what your diseases are. Jesus has the power to change your life. Don’t underestimate that. People spend millions of dollars each year, travel all over the world, go to therapy, try cosmetics and surgery, try new experiences, all to try to change their lives. And all it takes is Jesus. Jesus has the power to change your life. And that’s pretty attractive.


Another thing that drew people to Jesus was apparently he was pretty fun to be around. Look at Matthew 11:19: “And I, the Son of Man, feast and drink, and you say, ‘He's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of the worst sort of sinners!’” Man, I think that’s one of those images of Jesus that uptight religious people need to spend a little more time on. Apparently Jesus had so much fun that people accused him of being a drunk. Now, from what I can determine, Jesus didn’t actually get drunk. It’s just that he had so much fun, he was so free and uninhibited with his personality that people thought he was drunk. You kind of get the image that wherever Jesus went, there was a good chance that a party could break out at any moment. And I love this part, he was a friend of the worst sort of sinners. Man, we shouldn’t be surprised that people like Jesus. We shouldn’t be surprised that Jesus is popular. We shouldn’t be surprised that even “the worst sort of sinners” finds something about Jesus that is attractive. And so, we don’t need to be afraid of making Jesus attractive to people.



One of my favorite verses about Jesus is Luke 15:1-2: “All the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” This man receives sinners. Is that the worst you can come up with? This man receives sinners. Aren’t you glad? He received prostitutes, embezzling tax collectors, crude fishermen, former terrorists, lepers, adulterers. He receives homosexuals and drug addicts and alcoholics and people with eating disorders and people who have screwed up their kids and their marriages. He receives the greedy and the power hungry and the depressed and the broken. This man receives sinners. Everybody is welcome to come to Jesus.


So there is truth behind the pop-culture Jesus. Jesus is popular. But there’s more to the real Jesus than just popularity. You see, although Jesus is popular, Jesus’ teaching is often unpopular. There are a lot of people who say they like Jesus, but they don’t really know what he taught. They like the idea of Jesus. They like the image they have built of Jesus, but sometimes they don’t like what Jesus has to say. Now, let’s all be honest. We all feel that way at times. I love Jesus. Sometimes I’m not so crazy about some of the things he has to say about my life. Sometimes when I am confronted with the truth of Jesus’ teaching, I get a little uncomfortable because I realize I fall short of what he expects of me.


Now, again, it’s always been that way. There’s a verse in John that I think is one of the saddest verses in the gospels. Appropriately, it’s John 6:66, John 666. The crowds have been flocking to Jesus. He is at the peak of his popularity. The people are ready to make him king. And Jesus begins saying some things that make the people uncomfortable. He begins talking to them about the kind of commitment he expects of them. He tells them that it’s not enough just to want to make him king because he can do a few tricks, because he can put food on the table. He says, you have to be willing to lay down your life to follow me. He says, unless you are willing to eat my flesh and drink my blood, you can’t be my disciple. That might scare me off. And that’s what happened. “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” Jesus became more than just a superstar. When people actually began to hear his message, they began to walk away.


What are some things about Jesus’ teaching that make people uncomfortable? Well, there are a lot, but let me show you just a couple. John 14:6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” People don’t like it when we say that Jesus is the only way to God. If people get upset about that, I say, “Don’t take it up with me. You’re going to have to talk to Jesus about that one.” The exclusiveness of Jesus. Jesus says, “There’s only one way to the Father. There’s no plan B, there are no alternatives.” It’s Jesus and Jesus alone, and people don’t like that.


But I don’t think that’s the real problem people have with Jesus. That’s just a cover-up for the real issue. And the real issue really comes down to what Jesus was all about, what was the whole purpose of his life, why he came to earth. Look at 1 Peter 3:18: “Christ also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God.” Why would anybody have a problem with that idea, that Jesus died to save sinners? Well, here’s what makes people uncomfortable. The message of the cross is that Jesus died to pay the price for sin, for our sins. You see, at the heart of the cross is the idea that we have all sinned, that there must be a punishment for sin, and that the punishment for sin is death. And Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for the life I have lived. Now, for me to accept that, I have to accept that I am a sinner.


You see, what a lot of people want to believe is, “I’m okay and you’re okay and Jesus is okay with me and the way I live my life.” But the message of Jesus and the message of the cross is that we’re not okay. None of us are okay. We are all sinners. We have all chosen to rebel against God and live our lives our way and have hurt ourselves and other people and God along the way. So to really come to the real Jesus means I have to come face to face with the monster on the inside. And most people don’t want to do that. Jesus said, Jesus: “Unless you repent, you too will all perish” Luke 13:3 (NIV). Unless you repent, unless you change your heart and your mind, unless you turn away from sin and self, you will perish. That’s not popular, but that is the message of Jesus.


Now, there’s one more thing that the pop culture Jesus leaves out. That is, following Jesus requires commitment. It doesn’t take much commitment to wear a t-shirt. It doesn’t take much to get up on stage at the Country Music Awards and thank Jesus, your momma and all your fans. Pop culture Jesus doesn’t require a lot out of you. And that’s part of what makes him so popular. You can have a religious exterior without any real commitment.


But listen, it’s not just Hollywood celebrities and musicians who have low levels of commitment. There are a lot of people who talk about Jesus, who occasionally go to church, who wear a cross around their neck, but have little commitment to Jesus.


You see, there are a lot of things in life that we make very nominal commitments to, and that’s okay. Cell phone contracts, cable television or satellite providers, gym memberships, political parties. There are all kinds of things in our lives that we have some commitment to, but it is merely a commitment of convenience.


As a result, that’s the level of commitment that we bring to Jesus. And if Jesus is just plastic bobble-head Jesus, then that’s okay. But real Jesus requires something more. Do you know what Jesus’ basic call to commitment was? Look at Matthew 4:19: “Jesus said to them, ‘Come, follow me!’” It was a call to follow him, to spend time with him, to be around him, and to be like him. The disciples spent massive amounts of time with their rabbi, all with the goal of becoming just like him.


What kind of commitment does Jesus want of us? It’s really pretty basic. He wants to do what he says, he wants us to follow his teachings. “You are my friends if you do what I command” John 15:14 (NIV). Real Jesus requires something more than just wearing a shirt or praying occasionally or saying you love him. He says, “I want you to follow my instructions for your life.” And that is what a lot of people are unwilling to do. Making Jesus your lord means making him your boss, your manager, your leader. What a lot of people want is they want Jesus in their life, they just don’t want him on the throne. And Jesus says, “That won’t work.” The way to experience the real Jesus in your life is by putting him in control of your life.


You see, the evidence that you are a Christ-follower is not a t-shirt or a fish on your car or a cross on your wall. The evidence that you are a Christ-follower is you are following Christ. “This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” 1 John 2:5-6 (NIV). It’s about more than just talking the talk. It’s about walking the walk. The real Jesus says, “Come, follow me.” Will you come?

Chase the Lion - Part 5: Taking Risks

The following message is from The Crossroads Community Church message series "Chase the Lion." The messages are inspired by and adapted from the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and the accompanying messages by Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.

On October 31st, 1517, a monk named Martin Luther walked up to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany and posted a piece of paper on the church doors. His 95 theses listed 95 points of contention with the sale of indulgences—the selling of forgiveness by the church. Luther was put on trial. He was excommunicated from the church. But that one act of courage had a domino effect—it ignited the Protestant Reformation.

On April 18th, 1945, a factory owner named Oskar Schindler had a list of 1097 names manually typed—297 women and 800 men. He rescued them from Nazi Concentration Camps. Schindler lost everything. He died broke. But that one act of courage had a domino effect—a half-century later, there are more than 6,000 descendants of the people on Schindler’s list.

On December 1st, 1951, a seamstress named Rosa Parks got on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Segregation laws required black passengers to give up their seat for white passengers. Rosa Parks refused to do it. She was arrested. She lost her job. But that one act of courage had a domino effect—it inspired a citywide boycott and a court battle. Within two years, bus segregation was ruled unconstitutional.

Here’s the point: it is often small acts of courage that change the course of history. Someone takes a risk and it has a domino effect.

Now here’s the thing. We think about people like Martin Luther and Oscar Schindler and Rosa Parks in heroic terms. But they didn’t know they were making history when they were making history! They were just ordinary people taking risks! But when you take a risk you never know what kind of domino effect it is going to have.

During the Chase the Lion series we’re looking at this guy in the Old Testament named Benaiah. He was one of the most decorated and celebrated warriors in Israel’s history. He was the captain of King David’s bodyguard. He was one of David’s thirty mighty men, his special forces. And Benaiah goes on to become Commander-in-Chief of Israel’s army. But it all goes back to three risks that Benaiah took found in 2 Samuel 23:20-23:

“There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two of Moab's mightiest warriors. Another time he chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. Another time, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with it.”

Benaiah took three risks, and those three risks had a domino effect. Here’s the point, often the life of following God involves taking risks. Now, most of us tend to shy away from risk in our lives. We try to do everything possible to reduce the amount of risk in our lives, whether it’s relational risk or financial risk or job risk or emotional risks or physical risks. We try to eliminate the element of surprise in our lives. But I’ll bet some of the best things in your life involved taking risks. Some of the most amazing things God wants to do in your life involves taking risks. Perhaps the only thing between you and your destiny is one small act of courage. Taking a risk may be the key to the life God wants you to live.

In fact, Jesus told a story one time that illustrates the necessity of taking risks when it comes to being a follower of Jesus Christ and having an impact in life. Look at Matthew 25:

“The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ … Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.’”

If you really want to appreciate this parable you’ve got to realize that one talent was the ancient equivalent of over twenty-seven years of a day laborer’s salary. So, the servant who receives 5 talents receives over 135 years of salary. I don’t know about you, but if someone gives me a hundred and thirty-five years wages I don’t know if I ever take another risk. I’ve got enough money to last the rest of my life. You know what I’m saying? It had to tempting to play it safe. He had more to lose! But he also had more to gain!

Now, from this parable, I want to give you three principles about taking risks, and maybe they will encourage you to take more risks in your life and in your faith.

First, faith requires risk. Faith always requires risk. We talked about this quite a bit last week. Faith always involves an element of the unknown, so there is always a risk involved in faith. In the story, the servants who take the greatest risk are commended. They are called faithful. Don’t miss that. Faithfulness involves taking risks. I think we tend to think of faithfulness in maintenance terms. Faithfulness is holding the fort, maintaining the status quo, hanging on to what you have. And nothing could be further from the truth. Faithfulness is multiplying what you have to the best of your God-given ability. Faithfulness isn’t minimizing risk. Faithfulness is maximizing risk. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. The life of following Jesus, at it’s core, is a life of embracing risk, of putting our own hold over our lives and our safety at risk in order to follow Jesus. Check out Mark 8:35: “If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.” That’s putting your life at risk.

I am a huge football fan. I love to watch football. And one of the things I hate to see is when a team plays not to lose, instead of playing to win. You know, when a team gets a little lead and then just tries to sit on that lead till the end of the game. I want a team to go on the offensive. Not just hope they can hold a lead. I think too many of us are playing not to lose. The parable of the talents is about playing to win, risking what you have to get more.

Somewhere, I think we have gotten the mistaken idea that faith involves a reduction of risk in life, like the goal of faith is to reduce risk so that we are safe and at ease and everything is secure in our lives. But, have you read the Bible lately? Faith is risky business. Look at the descriptions of faith in Hebrews 11:

“By faith … Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land …Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going … He offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him … The people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground … By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.”

Risk, risk, risk. Hebrews 11 is the Bible’s longest discussion on faith, and every instance of faith cited in Hebrews 11 involved risk. The goal of faith is not the elimination of risks. God never promised us a risk-free existence. What he does promise is that He will be with us. What’s interesting is that the promise of God’s presence in our lives throughout the Bible is almost always in the context of risk. When you go through the flood, when you pass through the valley of the shadow of death, when you go through the fire, when you face your enemies, as you take the gospel to the ends of the earth, when you are persecuted, I will be with you. Faith requires risk. Your greatest experience of God’s presence, your greatest growth times in your faith, will come when you take risks for God.

Now, here’s the second truth, playing it safe is risky. One servant in the parable plays it safe, he buries the silver his master gave him. Instead of taking a risk, he hides what he has been given. He breaks even. And some of the harshest words in the Bible are reserved for this servant. Apparently breaking even isn’t good enough. In the context of this parable, wickedness is burying what God has given you in the ground and just sitting on it. He doesn’t take action because he is afraid of what will happen if he messes
up.

Psychologists tell us there are two types of regrets in life, action regrets and inaction regrets. Action regrets are regrets for something we have done. Inaction regrets are regrets for things we didn’t do, opportunities we have missed, things we wish we had said or done but we didn’t. And what they have discovered is that in the short term, action regrets are stronger, but over the years, inaction regrets are stronger. In other words, when we come to the end of our lives, the things we will most regret are the things we didn’t do. And the Bible confirms this. “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.”

Righteousness is about more than just not doing the bad things that God doesn’t want us to do. It’s also about doing the good things that God does want us to do. It’s about chasing the lion, changing the world, taking risks,
stepping out in faith.

There’s this story in the New Testament that I love. The disciples are out on the sea of Galilee in a boat, and it’s the middle of the night, and the wind is blowing really hard. And the disciples are afraid, and Jesus comes waling to them on the water.

“During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ ‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’

When you take risks and step out in faith, you almost always second guess yourself. You make the decision to get out of the boat and you have second thoughts. And you start sinking spiritually because you start focusing on the wind and the waves. Now, Peter gets a tough rap, a lot of times. He’s the guy who denied Jesus three times, but he was the only one who got close enough to Jesus to get caught. He’s the one who seems to stick his foot in his mouth all the time, but it’s only because he says what’s on all the other disciples’ minds. And he’s the one who sinks in the Sea of Galilee. But he’s also the only one who walked on water. Do you know how Peter got back to the boat? He walked on water again, with Jesus. How much would you give for an experience like that? To be able to walk on water with Jesus. Here’s what I think: sinking is better than sitting. I’d rather have wet clothes than splinters in my butt. I’d rather walk on water with Jesus than stay in the safety of the boat. If you want to walk on water you’ve got to get out of the
boat.

Take risks. Try big things for God. Dream big dreams and go after them. And here’s the great thing, God honors our attempts to please him and to serve him. Teaching my kids to ride their bikes. The reward of riding a bike far outweighs the risk. Playing it safe is risky.

Now, here’s the final truth that I hope will encourage you to take risks in life. There are no real sacrifices when you follow Christ. Now, I know, the Bible instructs us to give our bodies as living sacrifices. We’re called to deny ourselves, to take up our cross daily, to give up our lives so we can find them. But I don’t think anyone has ever ultimately sacrificed anything for God. Because we always get back more than we give up. And if you get back more than you gave up, in the end, is it really a sacrifice? No, it’s just smart investing. That’s what the faithful servants in the parable did. They made a risk. I mean, think about if the master came back and they had lost his money. I mean, you think he was mad at the guy who just broke even. What if they had lost it? There’s real risk there. But they risked in order to gain. Look at Mark 10:29-30:

“Let me assure you that no one has ever given up anything—home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or property—for love of me and to tell others the Good News, who won't be given back, a hundred times over, homes, brothers,
sisters, mothers, children, and land—with persecutions!”

That is not sacrifice. That is just wise investing. There is an old saying that says “No one ever bet too much on a winning horse.” At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, God is always a winning horse. If you are seeking God and following God and living your life in pursuit of God, there is no way you could ever do anything that God won’t give you back immeasurably more than what you give to him. I know this, the only regrets we’ll have at the end of our lives are that we didn’t seek God more or seek God sooner. That’s it.

You see, there are risks involved in following God’s will for your life. There are risks involved in giving your life to Jesus Christ. But the rewards are infinite. If you’ve never given your life to Christ, I want to challenge you today to take a risk. But listen, the risk is so small in comparison with the
return. Because the return is a life of happiness and peace, a life of excitement and adventure, a life where you make a difference and change the world. The return is you get to be a part of God’s family. The return is knowing that God loves you, that Jesus died for you, and that the Holy Spirit will come to live inside of you. The return is forgiveness for your past, purpose for your present, and the promise of heaven for your future. Take a risk and embrace following Jesus Christ.

You can play life not to lose or you can play life to win. Guess which camp lion chasers are in. Too many of us live our lives as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. But that is not the kind of attitude Jesus says we are supposed to have. “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” Matthew 11:12. There is nothing remotely passive about following Christ. Following Christ is not about sitting on the sidelines in life. It is about storming the gates of Hell, with a water pistol if necessary! God is raising up a generation of lion chasers who don’t run away from evil but who have the courage to compete for the kingdom. Take a risk! Chase the lion!

Chase the Lion - Part 4: Embracing Uncertainty

The following message is from The Crossroads Community Church message series "Chase the Lion." The messages are inspired by and adapted from the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and the accompanying messages by Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.

“There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two of Moab's mightiest warriors. Another time he chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. Another time, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with it. These are some of the deeds that made Benaiah almost as famous as the Three. He was more honored than the other members of the Thirty, though he was not one of the Three. And David made him commander of his bodyguard.” 2 Samuel 23:20-23

I know one thing for sure, Benaiah didn't plan any of those encounters. They weren’t on his calendar. They weren’t on his dayplanner or his palm pilot. They weren’t on his to do list. I would guess that Benaiah didn’t wake up on the morning of his lion encounter saying, “Today, I think I’ll chase a lion into a pit, jump in the pit with the lion and kill it. Oh yeah, wait a minute, and it will be snowing.”

It is so easy to read about an incident that occurred three thousand years ago and fail to appreciate the element of surprise because we know how the story ends. But what you need to see is that killing the lion was not a foregone conclusion. In fact, it was probably a statistical unlikelihood. Hand-to-hand combat with another human is one thing. Humans have tendencies. You can predict punches and counterpunches with a higher level of certainty. But savage beasts tend to be volatile and unpredictable. Their actions and reactions are less certain. Plus you have to account for topographical, physiological and atmospheric conditions. How heavy was it snowing? Was it packing snow or slippery snow? What was the footing like in the pit? How about visibility? What time of day was it? How hungry was the lion? How well did Benaiah sleep the night before? Did he eat his Wheaties for breakfast that morning?

There are a thousand variables and they all add up to one thing: a high level of uncertainty! Benaia could have run away from the lion. And running away would have reduced uncertainty and increased security. But lion-chasers are not afraid of venturing into the unknown, of embracing uncertainty in life.

And here’s the reality. There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty in life. Think about the thousands of factors that affect your life: the weather, how other people drive, what your boss or coworkers are going to do or not do, what your children are going to do, what is going to happen with your health, what is going to happen with the economy, who is going to be elected president, what is going to happen to the cost of groceries, whether one of your kids is going to break an arm, whether or not your car breaks down, what your husband or wife does in your marriage. Now, how many of those things do you really have control over? Life is uncertain. Life is often chaotic. What are the middle two letters of the word life? If. Life is filled with contingencies and uncertainty.

Now, you can do one of two things about uncertainty in your life. You can try to reduce uncertainty in your life. You can try to be in absolute control of all the situations and circumstances in your life. You can try to make sure no one in your life does anything unexpected and make sure you have everything planned out in life. And if you do that, you are going to make yourself and everyone around you miserable. Why? Because you are going to be what is called a control freak. The other option is that you embrace uncertainty. You try to plan your life and live life with a measure of control, but you accept the fact that uncertainty is a normal part of life and you embrace it.

Lion chasers embrace uncertainty. So, let’s look at how to embrace uncertainty.

The first thing you’ve got to do to embrace uncertainty is embrace faith. Embracing uncertainty is one dimension of faith. You see, faith always involves a component of the unknown, the uncertain. If we knew everything God was going to do, if we had 100% certainty about who God is and what God is doing and what God wants us to do in life, then there wouldn’t be any room for faith. Faith, by its very definition involves uncertainty. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith in terms of uncertainty: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” There’s kind of an oxymoron going on in that verse. Faith is being sure of what we hope for, being certain of what we do not see. You see, faith is guaranteed uncertainty. It’s having this settled confidence in the midst of not having all the answers, not knowing everything that is going to happen, not having everything worked out for ourselves.

Werner Heisenberg was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in 1932 for his research into quantum theory. His most famous finding was the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Now, I won’t get into all the details of it, but in a nutshell, it stated that, related to quantum particles, the building blocks of the universe, “The imprecise measurement of initial conditions precludes the precise prediction of future outcomes,” or in simple terms, there will always be an element of uncertainty. Life is infinitely uncertain. Now couple that with the fact that God is infinitely complex. Just when we think we have God all figured out, we discover that there is a new dimension to him that we had never even contemplated. So, if life is infinitely uncertain and God is infinitely complex, then all we can do is embrace uncertainty. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We live by faith, not by sight.” I think a lot of people have the mistaken notion that faith reduces uncer-tainty. Nothing could be further from the truth. Faith doesn’t reduce uncertainty. It embraces it.

Now, I think faith does reduce spiritual uncertainty. We can know that our sins are forgiven; we have been adopted as God’s children; all the promises of God are yes in Christ; every spiritual blessing is ours in Christ; and when we cross the spacetime continuum we’ll spend eternity in a place called Heaven. But here’s the trick. I think it is those spiritual certainties that enable us to embrace circumstantial uncertainties. Faith results in a reduction of spiritual uncertainty, but it often results in an increase in circumstantial uncertainty because God is going to call us to go places and do things that require total reliance upon God. And in many instances, the more faith the more uncertainty!

You see, lion chasers don’t have to know what is coming next, because they know that God knows. They don’t need explanations for every disappointment because they know that God has a plan. Jeremiah 29:11, one of my favorite verses, says,

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Now, notice, God doesn’t say, I’m going to tell you all my plans for you. He just says, “I’ve got plans and they’re good ones, so hang on for the ride.” I can look back over my life for the last fifteen years, and look at all the stuff that has happened in my life, relationships I’ve formed, experiences I’ve had, the way God has worked in my life, and now I can see how they have brought me to this point. Several years ago, LaRissa and I lost a baby in a miscarriage. And just honestly, I never have figured out why God allowed that to happen. But, the important lesson I learned through that experience is that I don't have to understand what God is doing to trust him. To embrace uncertainty, you have to embrace faith, embrace the fact that God is working it out according to his plan.

Then, second, embracing uncertainty means embracing adventure. For the disciples, following Jesus certainly meant an increase in uncertainty, but it also meant an increase in adventure.

“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.” Mark 1:16-17 (NIV)

They left the security of family and home and job to chase the adventure of a lifetime with Jesus. And Jesus promises them insecurity: “But Jesus said, ‘Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head.’” Matthew 8:20 (NLT). When you follow Christ you never know where you’re going to end up. Anything can happen. All bets are off! That is scary, but it is also exciting. Jesus was promising high levels of uncertainty—the element of surprise. And He delivers on His promises! Following Christ is the ultimate adventure! Tremendous amounts of uncertainty, but tremen-dous amounts of adventure.

Our family likes to go camping. Now, let me tell you, our camping trips are always an adventure. There are massive doses of uncertainty in our camping trips. Several years ago we went on a camping trip to Beaver's Bend State Park in Oklahoma. We got ready to go to bed, and put away our food in our cooler. The cooler latched shut, so I didn't think there would be any problem, and left the cooler sitting out. Ten minutes after we got in the tent, it sounded like WWIII outside. I look outside the tent, and an army of raccoons has arrived to raid our campsite. I look at the cooler, and all I can see is the back end of a raccoon. The rest of him was in the cooler.

So, I scare the racoons off and put away the cooler. But the raccoons continue to fight over the food they managed to get out of the cooler for the next several hours. That is, until about 3 a.m. That's when something else entered the camp, somthing bigger and scarier. We hear a low, rumbling growl, and the raccoons disappear. LaRissa whispers to me, "Whats' that?" To which I respond in a very manly way, "I don't know, but let's be really still and quiet and maybe it will leave us alone." Well, whatever it was, it began to sniff the sides of our tent. Somehow, I deluded myself into thinking that the thin, fabric walls of our tent would protect us from whatever the creature outside was. LaRissa, somewhat hysterically, says, "What should we do? (I should mention at this point that I was sleeping in the middle of the tent, and she was sleeping next to the edge where the critter was)." So, I respond, "Shhh, if we're quiet maybe it won't know we're in here." So, we spent the next several hours praying for dawn. Dawn arrived and the critter was gone.

Uncertainty is what makes camping so much fun. There is something about a camping trip that turns everything into an adventure. You aren’t just eating. You’re adventure eating—you cook your food over the campfire. You aren’t just sleeping. You’re adventure sleeping—you’re in a tent under the stars. You aren’t just walking. You’re adventure walking—it’s called hi-king. When you go camping it turns everything into an adventure! That is precisely what a relationship with Christ does? It turns everything into an adventure. And part of adventure is high levels of uncertainty!

Now, what we often do is focus our energies on telling God what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. And repeat ourselves over and over again to make sure God doesn’t miss any of the important details. But look at what happened in Acts 2:1-4"

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

The Day of Pentecost was an unplanned day for the disciples. It’s not like they woke up and said, “Today, I think I’ll speak in a foreign language that I have never learned.” I’m pretty sure the day started out like any other day for the disciples. But here’s the thing, you can’t plan Pentecost. God’s greatest adventures usually aren’t things we’ve got planned. The most unexpected things in our lives are usually the biggest adventures.

Think about it this way, the greatest movies have the highest level of uncertainty. You have romantic uncertainty or dramatic uncertainty or relational uncertainty, but if the movie is going to hold the attention of the audience, there generally is some suspense, a high degree of uncertainty. Uncertainty produces adventure. High levels of uncertainty don’t just make the best movies. High levels of uncertainty make the best lives! So, here’s what you have to do to embrace that uncertainty. You have to be flexible. If you are going to turn uncertainty into adventure, you have to be flexible.

Then, to embrace uncertainty, you chase the wind. Now, chasing the wind is usually an expression for an uncertain or questionable venture. But I want you to look at what Jesus says in Jn. 3: Jesus: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” Jesus uses the analogy of the wind to describe the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people who come to faith in Jesus Christ. You can’t see where the wind is coming from, you can’t tell where it is going, but you can certainly see its effects. In the same way, I can’t tell how or when the Holy Spirit is going to be at work, leading, directing in a person’s life. I can’t predict who is going to be moved by the Spirit at any given time, and I certainly can’t tell you how the Spirit is directing your life or what He is calling you to do in life. But I can definitely see the effects of His activity in people’s lives. And here’s the thing that’s cool about that verse. Jesus doesn’t say, “So it is with the Spirit.” He says, “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” It’s not just that the Spirit is unpredictable. He also produces unpredictability and uncertainty in the lives of God’s people.

Following the direction of the Holy Spirit will result in chasing the wind in your life. You will do stuff you never dreamed you’d do. You will go after dreams you thought were impossible. You will attempt things you never thought you could do. You will accomplish stuff that is humanly impossible. You will go to parts of the world you never would have before. You will eat things, talk to people, do things, experience things you would have never done before, all as you follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit’s direction in your life is not always going to make sense. It’s not always going to be according to your plans. Following God’s direction and God’s Spirit will produce uncertainty in your life. And it’s awesome! Look at what Hebrews 11:8 says about Abraham, “He went without knowing where he was going.” Can I get a witness? Women, you ever feel that way riding with your husband? That’s what I have come to call obedience in the unknown, and that’s what God wants of us. We don’t have all the details. We don’t have it all worked out. There is a high degree of uncertainty. But we know that God has called us to go, so we go.
There are things that we can know in life. We can know to some degree what God’s Spirit is leading us to do, even though we don’t know all the details. And we have to make a decision to follow when we don’t know all the details.

In his book, The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus writes about the names of different animal groups. A group of fish is called a school. Ants are called colonies; bees are called a swarm. Cattle are herds, birds are flocks, and a tribe of lions is a pride. For what it’s worth, a group of buzzards is called a committee! But here’s my personal favorite: a group of rhinos is called a crash.

That name seems so fitting! Believe it or not, a rhino can run about thirty miles per hour which is pretty amazing considering how much weight they are carrying! They are actually faster than squirrels which can run about twenty-six miles per hour.

But here’s the funny thing. Rhinos have terrible eyesight. They can only see about thirty feet in front of themselves. So they are running thirty miles an hour with no idea what’s at thirty-one feet! You would think they’d be timid creatures because they can’t see very far in front of themselves. But God, in his amazingly creative foresight, gave rhinos a big horn on the front of their head.

Now, here’s the lesson from the rhino: “The future is uncertain, but we need to move toward it with confidence. There’s a future to be created, a humanity to be liberated. We need to stop wasting our time and stop being afraid of what we cannot see and do not know. We need to move forward full of force because of what we do know.” Chase the wind! Chase the lion! Move forward full speed and full force following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

I love Deuteronomy 29:29: “There are secret things that belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we may obey these words of the law.” There are some things that God has not revealed to us. There is uncertainty in life. But we don’t allow uncertainty to cripple us, because we know the one who is in control. There was this old song we sang in church when I was a kid. And it said, “Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.” Who is holding your hand?

Chase the Lion - Part 3: Overcoming Adversity

The following message is from The Crossroads Community Church message series "Chase the Lion." The messages are inspired by and adapted from the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and the accompanying messages by Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.

Today, we are continuing our series called “Chase the Lion” where we are looking at how God uses challenges, difficulties, and tough circumstances to bring about the life that he wants for us. And it’s based on this passage in the Old Testament about a guy named Benaiah. 2 Samuel 23:22 says, “He chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it.”

The day Benaiah stared that lion in the face and wrestled with him in that pit was a tough day. But just a couple of verses later, the Bible tells us that King David made Benaiah the captain of his bodyguard. What better qualification for being a bodyguard than saying, “One snowy day, I chased a lion into a pit, jumped into the pit with the lion and killed it.” So, what seemed like a very bad day to Benaiah becomes the source of what God wants to do in his life in the future. And that’s what this series is all about. It’s about how God wants to use the biggest challenges in your life to bring about the incredible, awesome, amazing life that he has in store for you.

During this seven-week series, we are exploring seven lion chasing skills: defying odds, facing fears, overcoming adversity, embracing uncertainty, taking risks, seizing opportunities, and looking foolish. So, today we’re going to look at overcoming adversity. How do you deal with problems, difficulties, overwhelming situations in life. For Benaiah, a 500 lb. lion was certainly an adversity. Yet, he faced the challenge and overcame the adversity.

Now, in case you haven’t figured this out yet, life is tough. Adversity comes in life. Things don’t always work out the way you planned. Tragedies and heartaches and difficulties come in life. And just because you are a follower of Jesus Christ does not mean you are immune from adversity in life. I am not one of those preachers who will tell you that if you love Jesus and you live the kind of life that pleases him that your life will be free from heartache and you’ll have plenty of money and a nice house and you’ll never get sick and never suffer. No! In fact, following Jesus can be tough. Now, I believe it’s the best life you could possibly have, and I don’t know how people get through the adversities of life without Jesus, but it’s still tough. To quote from the great theologians Poison, “Every rose has its thorn, just like every night has its daw-waw-hawn, just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song. Every rose has its thorn.” In fact, Jesus promised that life would be tough. He said, “In this world you will have trouble.” Can you identify with that? In this world you will have trouble. And why is that? Because this ain’t heaven. So, you are going to have adversity, and today we are going to talk about how you overcome adversity.

But before we get started, let me tell you about one of the lion chasers in my life. Almost eight years ago, I moved to north Texas to pastor a church in Sherman, and I rapidly became friends with the associate pastor of our church, Brick James. After my wife, Brick is the very best friend I have ever had in my life. From the moment I first new Brick, he had cancer. He had been diagnosed with malignant melanoma. For the next six years, Brick fought the battle against cancer. But unless he told you he had cancer, you would never know it. Cancer did not define him. He was a happy guy. He loved life and he lived it to its fullest. Brick used to say, “God is good all the time and all the time God is good.” And he lived his life that way. Right up until the very end, Brick never let cancer win. He lived life with joy and peace and contentment.

At one point in the progression of his cancer, the cancer had moved to Brick’s brain, and he had surgery to remove the tumor. He had surgery on Monday, and on Sunday, he was sitting in worship, praising God. That day, I thought, what right do I have to complain about anything? Anytime I’m tempted to think about how bad things are, how tough my life is getting, I just think about Brick.

You know, a lot of people going through those kinds of circumstances would have become bitter. Their spirit shrivels until nothing is left but bitterness or anger or depression. But I don’t know that I’ve ever met anybody who was a greater encourager or who had a kinder heart or a more positive attitude than Brick.

What is it that enables someone like Brick to overcome that kind of adversity? Here’s what I learned from Brick: who you become is not determined by your circumstances! The outcome of your life is determined by your outlook on life. Your altitude is determined by your attitude. Our greatest problems in life aren’t circumstantial. Our greatest problems are perceptual. It’s your attitude that determines how you handle adversity in life. I can show you people who have been through some horrendous things in life, and yet they have joy and peace in life.

How do you do that? How do you overcome adversity in your life? Well, first, you reframe adversity in your life. You change your attitude. You change your perspective. And you do that by looking at life through the frame of Scripture. You see things the way God sees them. Look, I’m no interior decorator, but I do know this, the type of frame you put around a picture determines what people notice in that picture. The frame determines the focus. If you want to see yourself and your life and your circumstances the way God sees them, you need to look through the frame of Scripture. And when you do that, you’ll begin to see your life differently. Scripture is about reframing.

Let me give you a few examples. Matthew 5:11-12:

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

That’s reframing your problems in the context of eternity. Problems now mean priceless treasure later. The book of Acts tells about the disciples after Jesus had died and rose from the grave and returned to heaven. They were preaching about Jesus and got arrested and told not to speak again in the name of Jesus. But during the night, they are set free by an angel who tells them to go back out and preach again. So, they do that, and the next morning the guards go to look for them and find them defying the orders of the court. So, they arrest them again. And look at Acts 5:40-41:

“They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”

Reframing suffering. Suffering for Jesus is seen as an honor. Now I want you to think of the next verse as a frame around adversity. Most of us don’t like adversity, but if we put a biblical frame around it, we begin to realize that there are some life lessons and some character traits that can only be learned and developed via adversity. In fact, adversity expands our capacity to serve God.

“It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.” Philippians
1:29 (NIV)

Now let’s be brutally honest. If you’re anything like me, there are certain passages of Scripture that you sort of wish didn’t make the Bible. You know they’re true, but you wish they weren’t in the Bible! They are hard to swallow and tough to digest! But those are the verses that often help us grow the most.

This is one of those verses. We like the belief part, but the suffering part not so much! Now, here’s the amazing part, the word granted in this verse means “to grant a favor.” It’s like God is saying, “Listen, I owe you a favor. So let me let you suffer.” We tend to see suffering as a necessary evil at best, but Paul calls it a divine favor. And here’s the thing. There is nothing theoretical about this approach to life! Paul is writing these words from a middle-eastern jail cell.

So, what’s the answer? How do you reframe your life? The answer is worship. Worship is the way to see our lives from a different perspective. One time Paul and Silas were preaching about Jesus in the city of Philippi. They get arrested, are beaten, then are placed in a jail cell with their feet bound. If I’m Paul and Silas, I’m physically, emotionally and spiritually spent. I’ve got nothing left to give. My back is bleeding. I’m in a maximum-security cell block, I’m uncomfortable, and I’m just a little ticked at God that he didn’t keep me out of this mess. And that’s why Paul and Silas’s reaction is so incredible. Acts 16:23-25:

“After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.”

If that had been me, it probably would have read, “About midnight Shawn was complaining about his circumstances.” Nine times out of ten, when I am discouraged or depressed or getting beat up by my problems, it’s because I have fixated on my problem or my circumstances. And the answer is for me to zoom out and get some perspective. And the way I zoom out is worship. Here’s the principle: don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshiping what’s right with God. To reframe your problems, you stop focusing on what’s wrong about your circumstances and start focusing on what’s right with God. Paul and Silas made a choice to worship God in spite of their external circumstances. When my problems are greatest, that’s when I need to worship God the most.

So, to overcome adversity, I have to reframe adversity in my life. I have to have a different perspective, and I get that through worship. Then, second, you overcome adversity by letting God remodel you through adversity. Life is just preparation for eternity. This is just the preschool, the training ground. God wants to use adversity in your life to prepare you for eternity. God has a purpose for the problems in your life. Look at Romans 8:28-29:

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son.”

What is God’s purpose for problems in your life? What is God’s goal for your life? Once you become a follower of Jesus Christ, God’s goal for you is that you become just like his son. Now, if God is going to make you just like Jesus, then he’s going to take you through the same things Jesus went through. Did Jesus ever get tired or hungry? Was he ever criticized? Was he ever betrayed and abandoned by his friends? Was he persecuted? Did he ever suffer? Then you can be assured that we will go through the same things.

But the great thing is that God has a purpose in adversity.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4 (NIV)

Not lacking in anything. Wouldn’t you like that for your life? The only way to get there is by facing troubles. Did you know that if you break a bone, that bone goes through an initial period of weakness as it is healing from the break. But our bodies have a miraculous power to heal, and it actually overcompensates so that the bone is actually stronger than it was before the break. Very rarely does a bone break again in the same place because it is thicker and stronger than it was before the break.

So here’s the deal. Sometimes God breaks us where we need to be broken. He fractures the pride and lust and anger in our lives, but he does it to remodel us into His image. And once we heal, we end up stronger than we were to begin with. I wish I could get in shape sitting in a lazy boy watching football. We want to be in shape without the workout. We want to be smart without the homework. We want to be wealthy without the work. And we want spiritual maturity without spiritual disciplines. But it just doesn’t work that way!

There is an old saying: no pain no gain. But, you know, I think some of us operate with a slightly different philosophy of life: no pain no pain. But what we discover is that the path of least resistance is the path of least fruitfulness. The people God uses the most are often the people who have experienced the most adversity.

God wants to use us in incredible and amazing ways to change the world. God wants to give us a life of joy and peace and contentment and adventure and excitement. But to do that, God has to transform us. God is not content to leave us like we are. And I am so thankful. Think about it this way. What if God just left you like you are? What if he never did anything about the selfishness, the pride, the anger, the discouragement, the worry, the doubts in your life? What if he never did anything to overcome the temptations in your life? What if God just left you alone and let you stay the way you are for all eternity? And what if God did that for everybody? If that were the case, then heaven would just be this life forever and forever and forever. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would like it very much.

God loves you and values you enough that he is not content to leave you like you are. And the greatest tool God uses for transforming us, for remodeling our lives, is adversity. 1 Peter 1:7 says,

“These [that is, suffering] have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

God values your faith over all the treasure in the world. God values your character over your comfort. He cares more about your long-term potential than your short-term comfort.

I don’t know what kind of adversity you’re facing, but I know that God is in the remodeling business. Instead of asking God to get us out of adversity, maybe we need to make sure we get something out of those adverse situations! There are lessons to be learned and character traits to be developed. And honestly, it is adversity that will present you with the greatest opportunity to prove yourself as a parent, a spouse, a friend, a neighbor, and a leader. Your greatest adversity, your biggest hurt, your greatest failure, your biggest pain is the source of the most amazing things God wants to do in and through your life. Your biggest hurt is most likely the area of your greatest ministry. Look at 2 Corinthians 1:4: “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” If you don’t turn your adversity into ministry, then your pain remains your pain. But if you use it to comfort other people, then your pain becomes someone else’s gain.

Here’s the beautiful thing: God never wastes a hurt. God never wastes a hurt. God uses the adversity in our lives to refine us, to fashion us, to transform us. And God is so amazing that he can use our biggest hurt, our greatest failure, our biggest disaster to be the greatest opportunity in life.
I think all three encounters recorded in 2 Samuel 23—taking on two Moabite warriors, a giant Egyptian and a 500 pound lion—could have ended Benaiah’s life! They were make or break moments! But if it hadn’t have been for those adversities, Benaiah wouldn’t have become captain of David’s bodyguard and he almost certainly wouldn’t have appeared in the pages of Scripture. It was adversity that turned into an opportunity for Benaiah to prove himself as a valiant warrior.

What you see, when you look through the frame of Scripture, is the way God used the adversity to remodel Benaiah. Each adversity remodeled Benaiah as one of David’s mighty men, captain of David’s bodyguard, army commander, and eventually Commander-in-Chief of Israel’s army!

Now, what about you? Where have you been broken? What adversity are you facing right now? Do you have any overwhelming problems? Maybe God is remodeling you. Maybe God is taking the problem you never thought you would be able to overcome and turning it into the greatest opportunity of your life. But that only happens if you give God control of your life and reframe your adversity and let God remodel you.

First Baptisms at The Crossroads

We celebrated our first baptisms at The Crossroads Community Church on November 23. We borrowed a portable baptistry from the Collin Association (Think big bathtub with wooden exterior, making it look like a giant coffin. I thought that was somewhat ironic.)

We baptized three adult ladies, each with a unique and beautiful story of God's grace in their lives. One was a woman who has undergone a painful last couple of years as she has gotten divorced. She came to The Crossroads and gave her life to Christ on her first Sunday there. At her baptism, her kids, her parents, her brother and sister-in-law, and her ex-husband were all in attendance.

The second woman was a former Morman who has given her life to Christ and went public with it. She has discovered some real friendships at The Crossroads.

The final lady is the wife of a Iraqi war veteran who was wounded when a rocket blast struck his unit outside of Fallujah. Many in his unit were killed, but he survived. His wife had given her life to Christ previously, but had never gone public with it in baptism. After the service, her husband came up to me with tears rolling down his face and gave me a giant bear hug. Tears were rolling down my face after that.

Praise God as we see the dream becoming a reality.