The phrase, "Houston, we have a problem", has become a way of expressing every conceivable difficulty or hardship we face in life. These words are a call of desperation. They are a plea for help. They mean that we are looking beyond our moment of crisis and beyond ourselves to find a solution. For the astronauts in the Apollo 13 command module, calling for help was second nature. They instinctually knew that something wasn’t right and that they needed an answer. This is what made their mission a successful failure. No, they didn’t make it to the moon, but they did make it back home. Their lives were spared because they put their trust in something outside of themselves.
Now obviously, we are not floating around in space in a damaged spacecraft. Yet this whole "Houston, we have a problem" thing speaks directly to our lives. We were created for success. We were created in God’s perfect image. We were created to subdue the earth and to rule the entire universe. At creation, all systems were go! We had liftoff. God was glorified by his image in us. But like the Apollo 13 service module, we developed a fatal flaw. It took just one sin to wreck God’s perfect creation. One single sin! When Adam and Eve first sinned, every aspect of their lives were affected.
Four Spectrums of Devastation
First, Adam and Eve became separated from God. They found themselves without hope and without God in the world. Because of their sin they were expelled them from the Garden of Eden. Second, Adam and Eve developed a crippling inclination toward evil. Whenever they wanted to do good, their evil desires were right there crouching at the door. They became weak in their sinful natures and unable to resist the evil one. Third, Adam and Eve experienced brokenness in their relationship to one another. They felt shame. They were no longer transparent and trusting of one another. Their relationship was subjected to hierarchy, domination, pride, anger, and sin. In anger one of their sons, Cain, killed his brother Abel. Life would never be the same again. Fourth, Adam and Eve saw that their whole world was spiraling out of control. Wickedness rose to epidemic levels. There was a proliferation of violence and evil. There was no one who was righteous, not even one.
You can look virtually anywhere in your Bible to discover the extent of our sin problem. Ephesians 2:1-3 (NIV) says, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is not as work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its evil desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."
Ephesians 2:12 (NIV) asks us to remember that we were,"...without hope and without God in the world."
Four Spectrums of Healing
So what is our "Houston, we have a problem…"? Our problem is even greater that the astronauts' problem. Our problem is that we have separation from God, an inclination in our hearts toward evil, brokenness in our relationships with one another, and a whole world dying under the oppressive influence of Satan. Unfortunately, Houston has not been able to provide any answers to our sin problem. After all, how do we remedy our own separation from God? How do we cure our own hearts of their evil desires and intent? How do we heal our own relationships with one another? How do we usurp the influence of Satan in our world?
We are not in a position to help ourselves. And we are in such a state of crisis, we cannot afford to make guesses as to what might save us. We must gain victory over our sins so that we can gain victory over death. We must overcome our fatal flaws. Failure is not an option! I assume that you are here at church because you cannot stand being separated from God, because you hate the evil in your heart, because you want to heal your relationships, and because you want God to touch our world. Have you come to believe this morning that Jesus Christ is the answer to these problems? Do you believe that there is something Jesus Christ can do about these things that you cannot do?
There is a sense in which NASA's Apollo 13 mission was a failure. But as you know, the mission became known around the world as NASA's most successful failure. Well, there is a sense in which we have failed too. But by the grace of God, and only because of the grace of God, we too have become successful failures. Were it not for Jesus Christ, we would be lost in sin and floating off into darkness. We would be without God and without hope in the world. We would be forever separated from the life God created us to enjoy. The great thing is that we don’t need to be floating around in space in a damaged spacecraft to understand our need for grace. God’s grace is sufficient for us. His grace is sufficient to bring us home. It is sufficient to give us victory over death.
The good news of Jesus Christ is stated in Ephesians 2:4-10 (NIV) as, "because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions— it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Time stands still when we fully understand God’s gift of grace. One moment we were looking sin and death in the eye. We were headed off into total darkness, completely separated from God. We were struggling to break free from the sinful inclinations pulsating deep within our hearts. We were mourning the brokenness, the lack of reconciliation, and the lack of fulfillment in our relationships with one another. Our world was being torn apart by iniquity. But then in the next moment God’s grace appeared and we saw the life of Christ. God’s grace brought us near to God. God’s grace set us free from the power of sin. God’s grace brought healing into our relationships. God’s grace brought redemption to our world. God’s grace has brought us hope.
Now a question we must wrestle with is, "What will be our response to God’s grace?" In 2 Corinthians 5:14 (NIV) Paul says, "Christ’s love compels us…" What does Christ’s love compel you to do? What does his grace compel you to change? In summary of this entire series of messages, I would like to suggest that we respond to God’s grace in four ways.
Healing Through Faith Jesus Christ.
I used to puzzle over what it meant to grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ. I used to think of growing in terms of activities like going to church, going to church camp, going to Bible studies, giving an offering, singing songs, and doing church work. But I would do all of these things zealously and still feel disconnected from God. One of the hardest lessons we have to learn as Christians is that our relationship with Jesus Christ is not dependent upon our work, but rather upon Christ’s work. You and I can exert all the effort we want, but it doesn’t bring us one step closer to God. We are God’s workmanship. It is by grace that we have been saved. It is God who has made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our sins. It is God who has raised us up and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms. We are not the point of focus in our relationship with God. Jesus Christ is the point of focus!
2 Peter 3:18 (NIV) says, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever! Amen."
I used to think that the more I grew in my knowledge of God, the better I would feel about myself. But the opposite is true. As I have come to know God more fully, in all his righteousness and perfection, I’ve had to enlarge my understanding of God’s grace. The mystery of why God would have mercy on me, a sinner, consumes my imagination. Why God would shed his blood, die on a cross, listen to my prayers, or be moved in any way by my response to Christ is beyond my comprehension! We have no choice but to humbly celebrate God’s grace and to be grateful for it. If there is one thing I hope you do every day when you get up, it is to thank God for his grace. Because of his grace, there is no longer any separation! Problem resolved!
Transformation through God’s Holy Spirit.
Here again, I used to puzzle over how to live victoriously for Jesus Christ. For me, deep change was all about me exerting the effort to change myself. In the morning I would resolve to control my tongue. No name calling. No cussing. No lying. No exaggerating. No coarse joking. No whatever! But the more I tried to control my tongue, the more out of control it became! And it was like this in every area of my life. No matter how hard I tried, I could not sustain the deep changes God commanded me to make. I was a zealous failure.
One of the hardest lessons we have to learn as Christians is that transformation doesn’t come by being full of ourselves! We are powerless in the face of sin. We cannot do heart surgery on ourselves, but many sure die trying! Transformation comes by being filled with God’s Holy Spirit. Philippians 2:13 (NIV) says, "…it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." The Holy Spirit alone breaks the evil inclinations of our hearts. Problem resolved!
Restoration through God’s family.
One-anothering is nothing more than a really fancy way of saying, "Love one another." But the notion of love these days is so vague. What does it really mean to love? I used to think that I could love God and that it didn’t matter if I loved God’s family. For me, loving God was an intellectual pursuit. Loving God meant knowing Greek and Hebrew, studying the nuances of biblical texts, reading commentaries, memorizing theological terms, and reducing God to a series of doctrinal points. I didn’t want to be bothered by people’s lives, by their endless prayer requests, or by their irresolvable needs. "Let’s get on with the Bible lesson. Let's get on with loving God. Feed me. Let's get into the word. Let's go deeper and deeper!" But the deeper I would go, the colder and more critical I would become of God’s family.
One of the hardest lessons we have to learn as Christians is that the greatest evidence of our deep love for God is our deep love for one another. 1 John 3:16-18 (NIV) says, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." A deep love for God brings restoration to our broken relationships. Instead of relating to one another in sin, we relate to one another out of God’s grace. Problem resolved.
Discovering Purpose God’s world
Here is where things get really tough for all of us. I used to think that God’s grace was all about my salvation. As a youngster I was told, "If you were the only person on the face of the earth, Jesus Christ would have died just for you." That is all well and good, and I think it is true. But the fact is that Jesus Christ didn’t die only for me! He died for the whole world. According to 1 Timothy 2:4-6 (NIV), "God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men- the testimony given in its proper time."
What a tragedy for any Christian to see God’s grace individualistically. God’s grace is just as much for the Muslim, or the Buddhist, or the homosexual, or the prostitute, or the rich, or the poor, or the American, or the Pakistani, or the whoever. God’s grace is for our enemies. One of the hardest lessons we have to learn as Christians is that our place is to shine like stars as we hold out the words of life to all men. We are to be an influence! God wants us to see the potential for redemption in all people. It is not for us to judge whether people will receive God’s grace or not, or whether God will, in fact, forgive them or not. The good news of Jesus Christ is sufficient to reverse the moral and spiritual decay of our world. Problem resolved.
God’s grace is the answer to every conceivable difficulty or hardship we face in life. I was thinking about 1 John 3:18 (NIV), "...let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." How do we make these four ideas a point of action and not just a point of conversation?
The Church should be organized around the four relationships.
I think every single thing we do, as a church or as Christians should be organized around these four ideas— growing in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, being filled with God’s Holy Spirit, one-anothering God’s family, and influencing God’s world. Our vision meetings were an attempt to start the dialogue about these four ideas. But a few vision meetings, a sermon, or even a series of sermons, aren’t enough to make these ideas a point of obedience and action. That is where all of you come in!
What do we need to do in our Sunday school classes, in our small groups, on our worship teams, on our chair-setup teams, on our ushering teams, in our nursery, amongst our building and grounds teams, among our Lewis Memorial Christian Village workers, in our worship services, before and after church, in our homes, and wherever we gather is to see that we respond fully to God’s grace. We need to be sure that we don’t become all talk and no action on the very things that will transform our world.
One sacrifice that we absolutely must make is time. These things cannot take second place to all the other stuff in our lives. It takes time to grow in God’s grace. It takes time to be filled with God’s Spirit. It takes time to love one another. It takes time to be an influence in God’s world. These things take time with God and time with people. We have got to stop saying "no" to God and "no" to one another.
Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine Lakeside being a life-giving Church. Imagine it being true of every person at Lakeside that Jesus Christ is absolutely your greatest passion. That the Holy Spirit is daily being invited to change every area of our lives. That one-another is more important than self. That impacting our circle of influence with the good news of Jesus Christ is a daily priority for every one of us. Imagine every one of us spending more time with Jesus Christ and more time with one another, and less time pursuing our own interests. Imagine all of us becoming more people-focused, personally available beyond Sunday, and more mindful of one-another’s needs. Imagine that with God’s power we all begin working together, becoming a church that causes people to honor God and come into a life-saving relationship with his Son, Jesus Christ.
In Christ’s name we pray these things, Amen.