"Learning To Recognize Our Tests” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – April
27, 2014 Centenary United
Psalm 16; I Peter 1:3-9 One of the most challenging lessons that people need to learn is
a simple understanding that comes from the thought, “This is a test.”
Every time something painful occurs that is outside our routine,
we need to repeat these four words to ourselves.
These four words can empower us to develop a more objective
perspective from simply responding with hurt or frustration. One day a man called and asked if I would talk to his teenage
daughter. He and his wife
were having trouble communicating with her.
The extent of that
miscommunication was beyond anything I had imagined. When they came to
my office, he was carrying his daughter under his arm like a rolled up
carpet. He threw her into
my office where she landed on the floor in total humiliation.
He said, “Please see if you can talk some sense into her.”
Then he said to her, “You listen to him you little witch because
God knows you don’t listen to anything your mother and I say.” That was quite an introduction to this young lady and her dad.
Obviously the father was at his wits end and the teenager was
filled with anger, bitterness and resentment that was impossible to
measure. There was no way I could untangle their relationship during a
one evening session. I
could only offer tools that
she could use to help her grow through her adolescence and surface with
some skills. My principle tool was teaching her that “This is a test.”
And secondly, I told her that she had the ability to prevent her
father from turning her into a vengeful, resentful and bitter person
simply by changing her responses to him.
She was the only person that could change her pain into gain.
No matter who her father and mother had become, Cindy still had
the ability to be the person she wanted to become.
If people want to paint outside the lines with their behavior and
goals in life, that is fine.
In fact, most significant advancements come from the people who
choose to enter unchartered territory instead of taking the
well-traveled paths created by others before them.
However, they first have to learn where those lines are.
She had the rest of her life to perfect her life-skills.
Just as it happens for millions of people, Cindy and her parents
never got the memo that life
is filled with unpleasant moments.
What we want in life is often missing from what comes up for us.
If we continue to personalize everything, we can easily develop
attitudes filled with intense, hostile emotions.
The other side of the
emotional equation is that we can become clinically depressed.
Life from the
embryo to adulthood is all about change and development.
Maturity of spirit is up to us.
You have often heard me say from this pulpit that the world’s population
is filled with people that appear to need a crash course in anger
management. Why?
Maturity is not among their list of priorities.
Getting what they want now
is at the top of their list. I performed a wedding ceremony for a young man that had survived
the training for becoming a Navy Seal. I asked him what kind of
mental gymnastics he used to
stay in the program. He
said, Many times during
my experience, I thought I would die.
The thought of dropping out crossed my mind many times.
However, my desire was to become a Navy Seal ever since I can
remember and that goal forced me to endure everything my trainers threw
at me. When my goal was
reached, I knew I had paid an emotional price while on the road to
fulfilling my lifetime dream.
In our lesson this morning, Peter was using this same reasoning
for helping a wide variety of newcomers to the faith to deal with the
pain of persecution resulting from being followers of Jesus.
Peter told them to be
joyful while experiencing
such trials. He told his
readers that such tests would demonstrate the power and genuine quality
of their discipleship. (I Peter: 1:6f)
Peter then added that their perseverance would give them a
great blessing after they died. Jesus provided a different understanding of such tests in life.
In fact, Jesus used an agricultural image to illustrate how he
developed his skills of spirit.
He had taught himself not
to personalize any responses from other people.
Such ability does not come because he wanted to love everyone.
These skills develop by constantly practicing them. He taught, I am the vine and
God is the gardener. He
breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit and he prunes
every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean in order to
bear more fruit. (John 15:1f) What makes the
words “This is a test” so excruciatingly difficult to master is that
they will not generate the instant
justice
and fairness
we feel we deserve.
Little episodes in life can really become annoying,
inconvenient and irritating.
Saying “This is a test” will help us gain a perspective on life’s
events. We cannot know what our
future will look like until we get there. For example, when the two airliners slammed into the Not in our
wildest dreams can we determine where our present journey and all its
detours are taking us.
Think of it, we may be stuck in a lackluster marriage, in a work
environment where power-struggles are commonplace, in a marginal
relationship with family members, or remaining a committed care-giver to
someone who is unappreciative.
What a difference it would make if we could say, “This is a test”
before we make a response.
We are being prepared and trained for something we cannot see, or we are
providing a visual lesson for someone still maturing in spirit.
During Irene’s memorial service, I used an illustration about how
diamonds are created. I had
clipped an article that provided some interesting information about how
these minerals were formed.
Most diamonds are 3 billion years old.
If you are wearing a diamond this morning, the chances are good
that your diamond is half as old as the earth.
The majority of diamonds were formed 100 miles beneath the surface of the earth by heat and pressure, producing a crystal from carbon. Through the eons of time, these minerals have worked their way to the surface of the earth where they could be mined. Eventually the crystals are placed in the hands of skilled diamond cutters that bring out each stone’s brilliance. This is how many sparkling personalities are created. Most of us wish and pray for a more fulfilling environment, but
God may be saying, “You are being pruned so that you can bear even more
fruit. If you can become
peaceful and energized for each day’s tasks right where you are, you
will be ready for your future that is coming faster than you realize.”
This directive is not a reference to our going to heaven; rather
it means being prepared for what will be coming up for us in our earthly
lives. Most of us want the world to change so that we will feel happy,
be accepted by others, and remain popular among our colleagues and
friends. The
big pitfall of such desires
is that the world cannot provide any of these feelings for very long.
We will always fail if we
try to anchor our personality and spirit to anything in the constantly
changing world. Years ago, I read an interview with the popular singer John
Denver. In that article he
was quoted as saying, “I don’t know who I will become when the applause
from my audiences stop.”
Placing the quality of our spirits into the hands of strangers who love
us for the moment is nothing more than sabotaging our growth.
We are the only people that can produce and bring the skills of
self-confidence to the table in our relationships, at the office, and
even during the moments of betrayal and personal failures.
Those qualities are developed
only by the choices we make. Consider the tests that came during the ministry of the Apostle
Paul. He once wrote:
Five times I was
given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews; three times I was whipped by
the Romans and once I was stoned.
I have been in three shipwrecks, and once I spent 24 hours in the
water. I have gone without
sleep. I have been hungry
and thirsty. I have often
been without enough food, shelter or clothing.
(II Corinthians 11:24f) Why was it that Paul did not give up or feel abandoned by God?
More than likely, it was for the same reason that Peter did not
dwell on his cowardice after telling people three times that he did not
know Jesus. Both of these
men and countless others before and after them did not have their
identities anchored to anything in the material world.
They had to gain
experience with life and death issues before the
training wheels came off of
their bicycles.
All of us have known tests and failures in our own experiences, but we are still making a difference in the lives of others. Developing these skills comes from learning to recognize our tests. The world’s influences have no design to deliberately hurt us or to reward us. They have no value until we assign one. Every area of life has the ability to test our character and values. Jesus faced life trusting that what came out of him during moments that were creating absolute terror would somehow make a difference in the lives of people in the present and future. For many of us, he succeeded in doing just that. He passed his tests. How are we doing with ours? |