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Always Enough: A Sermon for the Discouraged
A 10-minute sermon Ben gave during our May 6 Celebration Meal gathering from Mark 6:30-44.
Note: the actual recording of this sermon was made after the gathering, because we failed to press “record” during the sermon. This is why you don’t hear the usual children chirping in the background. But we felt like the recording should be available, so Ben re-preached the sermon later that evening for the recorder, which felt weird. But the result is a recording of the sermon!
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Welcoming Jesus as King (Palm Sunday Sermon)
Sermon from Palm Sunday, Apr 1, 2012 by Ben Sternke from Luke 19:28-48.
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Engaging Temptation: Affirmation
Lent is a season of repentance and fasting in preparation for the joys of Easter and Pentecost.
During Lent, we will be meditating on the temptations of Jesus, and how they correlate to the common temptations all of us face.
Today we look at the arch-temptation of affirmation.
AFFIRMATION
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, and God will protect you,” the devil told Jesus.This is the desire for affirmation, the desire to look good, wanting to see that which is pleasing and wanting to be pleasing. This is what John calls the “lust of the eyes,” and one of the reasons Eve ate the fruit is that is was “pleasing to the eye.”
One thinks of Lester Burnham, Kevin Spacey’s character in American Beauty, who, when asked why he was suddenly working out at the gym so much, said “I want to look good naked.” He had been taken in by this temptation. Or the Pharisees, who did all the “right things” (giving, praying, fasting) but for the sole purpose of “being seen.” They simply wanted to have a reputation of righteousness, without any desire to actually be righteous. “They have their reward,” Jesus said about them. They wanted people to notice them, and they did it: they were noticed.
Any self-aware person can probably recognize this in themselves. Many times the reason we do things is so that others will like us, affirm us, or want to hang out with us. We want to please people, not because we love them, but because we need them to like us so we feel good about ourselves.
This is because our identity always comes from somewhere outside of us. If we are not resting securely in the reality that we are children of our Father, if we’re not regularly receiving affirmation from him in that relationship of love, we will very quickly turn to others to get a sense of identity, trying to get “affirmation hits” from others.
- Insert funny comment now so people think I’m witty…
- Find a way to talk about my recent accomplishment…
- How can I make sure people know I’m intelligent?
- Does my boss really know how good I am at my job?
- What would people think if my kids did that?
- What should I wear to the party so people think I’m sophisticated?
- If I share what I’m really thinking, people won’t like me.
This is essentially idolatry, and living with these kinds of addictions cripples us. It is a way of life that will grind you to powder.
If you’re feeling that gnawing emptiness that leads to seeking the affirmation of others, it’s time to stop, and go to the source and fountain of unconditional acceptance and love. Return to the Father and let him affirm your identity. Repent. Come home.
One of the most important disciplines in my life is a simple, regular (at least once a day) turning toward the Lord to let him affirm me as his son. God has prepared the meal, all we need to do is come to the table. I’ve realized this is a meal I can’t afford to miss.
How do you battle the temptation to seek affirmation from others?
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Engaging Temptation: Ambition
Lent is a season of repentance and fasting in preparation for the joys of Easter and Pentecost.
During Lent, we will be meditating on the temptations of Jesus, and how they correlate to the common temptations all of us face.
Today we look at the arch-temptation of ambition.
AMBITION
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’”This is the will to dominate, the desire to control people, events, and situations. It’s what John calls “the pride of life,” and in the temptation in the garden, it shows up in the fact that the fruit of the tree was “desirable for gaining wisdom.”
Most of us aren’t tempted to “rule the kingdoms of the world,” but there are a hundred moments each day that we are tempted to make things happen through our own efforts. A hundred situations each day where we will be tempted to use words and actions to manipulate people, to get them to do what we want.
- We want our children to behave, so we yell.
- We want others to go along with our plans, so we push their buttons if we can.
- We want our grown children to call us more, so we use guilt to motivate them.
- We want our spouse to pay more attention to us, so we withhold affection to manipulate them.
When our identities are tied to getting what we want, we’re useless to God. This is what it means to take up our cross and follow Jesus: we die to our kingdom, we give up on the project of getting what we want. We let go of trying to secure outcomes, we choose to lose.
Lose the argument. Don’t get the last word in, just say you’re sorry and lose. Choose to go above and beyond at work, and not worry about whether your boss notices or not. Choose not to defend yourself when others are talking about you. Keep your mouth shut and trust Jesus. Take up a discipline where you regularly choose to lose.
Things may not turn out how I want, but that’s okay. There’s no good reason for me to get what I want, because I’m not God.
- We can let go of needing our children to behave, so we can focus on loving them well.
- We can let go of our plans for situations and focus on being present with others in love.
- We can get the promotion or not get the promotion – God will be with me no matter what.
- We can let go of our desires for other people to do things differently, and simply focus on praying for them and loving them.
Why? Because we know who we are, we press into our identity as God’s beloved children, and that knowledge and experience transforms us. In the words of a great children’s Bible, we can rest in God’s Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.
As we attend to these things, keeping our identity in God firmly in place, I believe a transformation begins to take place. In Luke’s version of the temptation story he notes that Jesus went into the desert full of the Holy Spirit, but after the temptations, he comes out of the desert in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Whenever your identity is threatened there is enormous opportunity for God’s Kingdom to be advanced. Jesus said that without him we can do nothing, so we know we need the power of God to do even the smallest kingdom task. We can do none of it in our own strength. We need power. The power that was meant to flow through your life will begin to flow more freely when you wage and win the battle with temptation.
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Three Doors (Lent Sermon from Revelation)
Sermon given by Ben Sternke from Revelation 3-4 on March 11, 2012.
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The Love You Had At First
Sermon by Ben Sternke from Revelation 1:9-2:7 during the Lent worship gathering on February 26, 2012.
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Engaging Temptation: Appetite
During Lent, we will be meditating on the temptations of Jesus, and how they correlate to the common temptations all of us face.
Today we look at the arch-temptation of appetite.
APPETITE
“If you are the Son of God… turn these stones into bread,” the devil said to Jesus. Eve noticed the fruit was “good for food.” John calls this the “lust of the flesh.” These are our normal human appetites: hunger, comfort, pleasure, etc. And most appetites aren’t sinful in and of themselves. Hunger is a signal it’s time to eat, usually.But this is about submission. And control. Appetites can quickly turn into addictions unless we learn to say “no” to them when appropriate. And oftentimes behind our impulse to satisfy our appetites is doubt that God will really provide for us. Will he really give us the desires of our hearts? Does he really have our best interest at heart? Can we trust him?
We’re oftentimes like the orphan boy I heard about once who, for several weeks after he was adopted, would raid the fridge in the middle of the night and put all the food in his bed because he just couldn’t bring himself to believe that breakfast would really be there in the morning. We often do the same thing: taking matters into our own hands because we don’t trust God to provide for us.
But Jesus knew that God would provide for him, because he was secure in his identity as the Beloved Son. He knew that those who seek first the kingdom get everything else thrown in. He knew that he could trust his Father to give him what he needed, that ultimately God himself was enough. So Jesus refuses the temptation to satisfy his appetite flippantly, quoting Scripture, saying “People don’t live on bread alone.” God will take care of me, I won’t believe or act on the lie that it’s all up to me.
There are all kinds of different appetites that can be addictions for us. What do you struggle with?
- Food? Do you find it difficult to eat sensible portions? Do you eat compulsively? Do you eat when you’re depressed or anxious? Does the thought of giving up fast food send you into a cold sweat?
- Sex? Do you find yourself driven by the need for sexual release? Would you be able to abstain for a season?
- Comfort? Do you avoid situations in which you’d be uncomfortable, physically or emotionally?
- TV? Would it be a big deal to skip your favorite show, and not watch it on Hulu later?
- Facebook/Twitter/Internet? Could you go a week without getting on the Internet? A day?
Anything you do compulsively, that you would find extremely difficult to give up, that you make extensive excuses for whenever challenged, is probably an uncontrolled appetite, an area of your life that you are giving in to temptation. Constant giving in to those appetites weakens us spiritually, and keeps us ineffective and unfruitful in spiritual living. The streams of living water cannot flow out of our life when we give in to these temptations.
Fasting is the discipline we need in order to engage our appetites. When we fast, we strip away the crutches and support systems we’ve built and learn to rely solely on God for our provision. Fasting is a somewhat mysterious discipline as well, in that much of the benefit is difficult to explain unless you simply engage in it. We learn to use your will to give up something you do have control over so the door of your heart is “crow-barred open” so the Holy Spirit can enter and give you power over that which you don’t have control over.
How are you engaging your appetites during Lent this year?
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Come To Me
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30)
Jesus’ invitation to the weary and burdened here is a beautiful picture of what life with God looks like. We find that as we step out trusting Jesus, we come to know a new kind of life, one that is characterized by both gracious covenant relationship and meaningful kingdom endeavor.
First of all, Jesus says “Come to me.” It’s important to recognize that eternal life is found in the person of Jesus. Only Jesus fully reveals the Father. We find the fullness of life with God in Jesus. Nowhere else.
Jesus promises that if we come to him, he will give us rest, that we’ll finally find rest for our souls. Being invited into relationship means that we don’t strive in our own strength anymore, because we are now linked with a stronger covenant partner, an Older Brother who is strong enough to carry the bulk of the load. We find rest as we relate to Jesus.
But this relationship isn’t just about “hanging out.” Jesus goes on to say that the way we find this rest for our souls is by taking on his “yoke.” A yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull. Many times an older, stronger, more experienced animal is yoked together with a younger, less experienced animal so the younger animal can learn to pull the plow by imitating the actions of the older animal.
When we take on Jesus’ yoke, it means we learn from him how to live abundantly in God’s kingdom, both enjoying the relationship and embracing the responsibility. Take a few moments today to shift the burdens you’re carrying to Jesus, and take on his yoke instead. It’s easy and light and you’ll find rest for your soul.
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Epiphany Sermon: Listen to Him
Sermon by Ben Sternke on the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 9:1-8) on February 12, 2012 during our worship celebration.