As a kid, I used to have a blast playing the game of "Operation". I know, lock me in a room. If you’ve ever played the game, you know that half the fun is making the patient even more miserable, right? "Operation" was like having an electronic voodoo doll, only with tweezers instead of pins and needles.
As a child, "Operation" allowed me to secretly inflict pain upon people I didn’t like. The teacher gave me an F on a paper. Bzzzz. The principal swatted my backside. Bzzzz. The neighbor kid pushed me around. Bzzzz. Bzzzz. Bzzzz. I was like a mad scientist, closed up in my room each night,making the score even! My parents had to consult a psychologist. "We don’t understand it, Doc. He lets out this hideous laugh every time the patient gets buzzed. Lately he’s been chasing his brothers with the tweezers." I’m only kidding. I didn’t chase anyone!
In real life, the stakes are much higher than in the game of "Operation".
In the game of "Operation" the stakes are laughable. The worst that can happen while taking out the funny bone is maybe drumming up a few laughs. I mean, who really cares if the patient has brain freeze, writer’s cramp, butterflies in his stomach, or some other humorous malady? But when it comes to real life, "Operation" is anything but a game. And the stakes are no longer laughable. They’re life and death. They’re eternal!
In John 3:3 (NIV) Jesus tells Nicodemus, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." And in John 3:5 (NIV) Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." In these verses Jesus was telling Nicodemus that in order to participate in the eternal kingdom of God, he needed to be regenerated in the innermost depths of his soul.
Of course, this confounds Nicodemus. "How can the wretched old man within me be regenerated? How can a person make the deep, lasting changes God desires?" In John 3:4 (NIV) Nicodemus asks Jesus, "How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!"
What deep change have you not been able to make in your life?
In your outline there is a question for your consideration. What deep change have you not been able to make in your life? As we go through life, we develop this list of things we cannot change about ourselves. Nicodemus had his list. I have my list. You have your list. How can we be born again when we are old? How can we be regenerated? How can we be healed?
Brain Freeze- The spiritual equivalent is pride.
For example, in the game "Operation" there is this phony ailment called Brain Freeze. To cure the patient you have to lift an ice cream cone out of patient’s head. What’s the spiritual equivalent of Brain Freeze? It's pride. What do you do when your heart becomes so hardened that you need no one and nothing, not even God?
There is this part of us that doesn’t pray, doesn’t trust, doesn’t believe, doesn’t need, and doesn’t ask. There is this part in all of us that’s independent and self-sufficient. How do we break that? How do we cultivate humility? How do we cultivate a heart of submission before others and before God? What breaks that rebellious spirit in us?
Unbendable Knee- The spiritual equivalent is unrepentance.
For this series, we thought of some other ailments that might appear in the game "Operation". But in real life these ailments signify deep spiritual trouble. We just mentioned Brain Freeze or pride. But what about an Unbendable Knee? The spiritual equivalent of an unbendable knee is unrepentance.
We all have spiritual blindspots. We all have this problem Jesus describes in Matthew 7:3 where we gawk at the speck of sawdust in someone’s eye but ignore the plank of wood in our own eye! Forget about everyone else for a moment. What about the strongholds of sin in your own life? What about those private thoughts, those unseen actions, those brimming emotions, that subtle attitude, or that nuanced justification you make for your sin?
How do you make the unbending knee bend? How do you make the inflexible flex? How do you bring an unrepentant spirit to full repentance? Do we just give up? Do we just let the old man or old woman in us reign?
Quick Feet- The spiritual equivalent is brash.
How about this ailment? Quick Feet. The spiritual equivalent of quick feet is brash. God wants us to take wise, thoughtful, measured steps. But how often do we just barge on forward in life like a bull in the china shop, wrecking everything in our paths? We can be so aggressive, demanding, pushy, rash, hurried, brazen, and impatient. How do we center ourselves? How do we slow ourselves down? How can we take in the blessings God surrounds us with during every moment of every day?
Full Stomach- The spiritual equivalent is satisfied.
There is an ailment we might describe as a Full Stomach. The spiritual equivalent of a full stomach is a person who is satisfied. This person is one who has lost his appetite for God. What happens when the amazing grace of God stops being so amazing? What happens when we lose that hunger and thirst, that craving, and that curiosity to know God?
There is this place in Hebrews 5:12 (NIV) where we read, "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!" This verse describes Christians who had never gotten weaned off breast milk. These persons who despite being Christians for some time, never moved on to solid spiritual food.
What a tragedy that a Christian never gets weaned! That any one of us grows so satisfied that we do not learn to crave the deeper truths of Christ. But how do we rekindle that passion to know the Christ? Howdo we jumpstart our spiritual lives? How do we develop that soul hunger we had when we first gave ourselves to Christ? How do we make room for the main course, instead of getting filled on junk food and appetizers? There is perhaps no greater threat to spiritual vitality than a full stomach.
Hardened Heart- The spiritual equivalent is unmerciful.
There is another ailment we refer to as a Hardened Heart. We live in a world where even the people who are nearest and dearest to us, hurt us. If we went around this room we would be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t been wounded by another person in a significant way. We are hurt by people’s words, people’s judgments, people’s attitudes, people’s actions, and people’s inaction. These hurts accumulate through our whole lives.
Imagine what would happen if you never took out the trash in your home. Imagine the trash piling up in the garage. How long would it be before your garage became useless? Imagine piling it in your basement or inyour attic? Soon there would be nowhere to live in your house. That is how it is with our hurts. If we don’t forgive them, they keep piling up and stinking up our lives, and squeezing us out until we die inside.
Talking about forgiveness is one thing. But actually forgiving someone who has hurt us is an altogether different matter. Is there someone you have a hard time forgiving? Someone you don’t think deserves it? Someone who angers you? Someone who gets under your skin? Someone you cannot tolerate? Who you care very little for? Someone who you never want to see in your life, in this church, or anywhere else? Someone you think the world would be better off without? A hardened heart is a tough thing to cure on your own. You can try but you’ll fail.
Seared Conscience- The spiritual equivalent is impurity.
There is this ailment we might call a Seared Conscience. I struggled to come up with a better label for this ailment. But the spiritual equivalent is impurity. James 1:27 (NIV) says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
When I was younger my parents would buy me a brand new pair of white tennis shoes. It was always at the beginning of the school year, and every year I would vow to keep my new shoes perfectly white. That always worked for about a day. No matter how hard I tried, I always ended up with a dozen scuff marks on my shoes at end of every day. They would get splattered with mud. I’d kick a dirty ball during recess. Someone would step on my feet.
That’s what it’s like living in the world. No matter how hard we try, it’s virtually impossible to keep ourselves from being polluted in the world. Sin abounds. Temptation abounds. But how do we make a dirty pair of Nikes pure white again? How can we become pure and spotless before a holy God?
Chip on the Shoulder- The spiritual equivalent is quarrelsome.
I have just two more ailments to cover. How about Chip on the Shoulder? The spiritual equivalent is a quarrelsome spirit. Sometimes we are more interested in accentuating our differences and in highlighting other people’s failures, especially those people who are over us. We like jockeying for status and destroying the competition, and feeding gossip, and casting suspicions, and the list goes on.
The root of all this conflict is insecurity in our identity. How can we become more redemptive in the way that we relate to others? How can we defuse conflict instead of escalating it? How can we learn to proactively resolve differences among ourselves and others?
Missing Spine- The spiritual equivalent is convictionless.
A last ailment of concern is Missing Spine. There are so many of us who lack conviction these days. We're overly tolerant, overly compliant, and overly accepting of just about everything. There is a death of outrage.
A brother falls into a sin and we just sit back and watch it happen. A falsehood is proclaimed and we withhold the truth. A sin becomes mainstream and we raise the white flag of defeat. No school prayer? Okay. No public display of Christian symbols? Okay. No protection of the unborn? Okay. No sanctity in marriage between man and wife? Okay. More couples living together than getting married? Shhh, it's okay. The state legalizes gambling and the poor are being exploited. But it's paying for my kids' public school education. Creditors are exploiting the poor with outrageous interest rates. It's okay because it's capitalism. Sunday sports leagues and clubs pull your family out of church week after week and month after month. Okay.
Where is your spine? Where is God’s voice in society? Where is the conviction in regard to things of eternal significance? Where is the line being drawn in the sand these days? Is there even a line being drawn in the sand?
We can't change ourselves, but God can change us.
You know, there are a lot of things we have a hard time changing about our lives. The good news is not what we can change about ourselves, but what God can change about us. The Bible describes Jesus as the great physician and the great healer. Throughout his ministry, Jesus healed people of things thatthey had no power to heal in their own lives.
In Mark 2:17 (NIV) Jesus says, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Jesus wants us to come and lay our ailments before him, both the physical and spiritual ailments.
Do you have brain freeze? Jesus can humble the proudest heart. Do you have unbendable knee? Jesus can bring you to the place of repentance. Do you have quick feet? Jesus can slow down even the most brash and impatient soul. Do you have a full stomach? Jesus can make you hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Do you have a hardened heart? Jesus can melt the coldest hearts with his love and mercy.
Do you have a seared conscience? Jesus can purify your heart. He can wash away your sins and make you as white as snow. He can cause you become pure, spotless, and without blame before a holy God. Do you have a chip on your shoulder? Jesus can knock it right off and use you as an instrument of righteousness to establish peace between men and with God. Do you have a missing spine? Jesus can give you the boldness to be salt and light and to call the world to righteousness.
I love that passage in Mark 10 where Jesus is telling his disciples how difficult it is for rich people to be saved. In Mark 10:25-27 (NIV) Jesus says, " 'It is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were amazed, and said to each other, 'Who then can be saved?' Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.' "
With God, all things are possible.
Do you believe that God can change what you have not been able to change in your life? This series that we are now beginning is all about possibilities. If we invite him to, God can regenerate even the deepest, darkest parts of our souls. He can break the strongholds. The great physician can lay his hands on us and make us whole. Do you believe it? You might be asking, "How does God do it?" Quite well, actually!
In Matthew 5:3-12 (NIV) Jesus shares what many call the beatitudes. At their core, the beatitudes are really a picture of the transformation God brings us through. He transforms us as we trust in Christ and invite God’s Holy Spirit to change us from the inside-out.
The beatitudes.
God begins by making us poor in spirit. Goodbye brain freeze. Goodbye pride. God humbles us. He causes us to realize our need for Christ. Matthew 5:3 (NIV) says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Next, God causes us to mourn over our sins. Goodbye unbendable knee. God moves us in the depths of our being to acknowledge our sins and mourn over them. Matthew 5:4 (NIV) says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
Then God slows us down to appreciate the trillions of blessings surrounding us every moment of every day. We begin receiving God's grace all around. Goodbye quick feet. Matthew 5:5 (NIV) says, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."
God next kindles a burning fire in us; a hunger and thirst for righteousness. He causes us to become dissatisfied with milk and to crave solid food. Goodbye full stomach. Matthew 5:6 (NIV) tells us, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
As we hunger for righteousness, we fully grasp our own need for God’s mercy. We fall short of God’s holiness. We need forgiveness just as much as those around us need our forgiveness. Out of gratitude to God for mercy, we show mercy. Goodbye hard heart. Matthew 5:7 (NIV) says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
Once we learn to show mercy to others, we can genuinely put their interests before our own.We begin approaching life and all our relationships with purity. We have genuine desire to love others and to love God in everything. Goodbye seared conscience. Matthew 5:8 (NIV) says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
In time, our greatest obsession becomes making peace between men and God. This is what Jesus Christ, the Son of God did. He came to seek and save the lost. To the degree that we take on the ministry of the Son of God, we will be called sons of God. Goodbye chip on the shoulder. Matthew 5:9 (NIV) says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."
Living for God puts us at odds with the world. But living for God and serving him is too important. It's our highest calling. We lay down our lives, willingly suffering for Christ’s name. "Hello missing spine. I'm glad to have one." Matthew 5:10-12 (NIV)says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 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."
God can make the impossible become possible in your life.
There are a number of verses listed in your outline that you can read this week to get a flavor for the deep, inside-out kind of changes that only God can make in your life. Read these this week. (Note to reader- the verses listed in the outline are Psalm 40:17, Psalm 119:36, Psalm 37:9, Psalm 37:11, Psalm 119:10-11, Psalm 25:6-7, Psalm 24:3-6, and Psalm 52:7.)
Right now is the perfect time for the impossible to become possible in your life. You are here because you desire God’s blessing on your life. Thanks for listening to his message. Let me encourage you to do more than tuck your outline in your Bible. Complete that study guide and get into a Life Group! Do something for yourself and do something for your family. Make the stuff that you are hearing today stick. Take it to the next level.
Open yourself up to really be changed. There are Life Group sign-up sheets in the back of the sanctuary. That’s where you are going to apply this stuff. That’s where the deep growth is going to occur. We are going to revisit each of these ailments in depth in the coming weeks, so please make it a priority to attend church. Invite others to come with you. Our goal is to begin having three hundred people in worship. But we want three hundred growing people, not just people taking up space. We all want to be growing as we move into next year.