So, I don't normally post my sermons on here. I just don't feel like the written versions pack the same punch as the verbally delivered versions. Still, some have asked about it, so I thought I would share. Enjoy!
Be Strong
A Homily
Guymon
Community Baccalaureate
Wednesday,
May 23, 2012
Joshua
1:6-9
Good evening. It is good
for me to be here with you tonight. On behalf of the Guymon Ministerial
Alliance, I welcome you. In the name of our God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
– may you all find peace in the grace of the risen Christ. I have this wonderful
privilege tonight – Seniors – to see your faces. You are all together and eager
for the days ahead. On Friday, all I will see are the backs of your heads while
you’re sitting at the stadium. Are any of you the least bit excited for what’s
coming next? It’s ok to say so.
One thing I want you all
to know, from the outset, is that I am going to keep it short tonight. I know
you are excited and eager to get to the Senior Video. You are even more excited
to get to Friday. So, I will promise you that this won’t take too long. But in
this short time, let’s be agreed that it is a right, good, and joyful thing to
pause together as a community of friends and family to reflect on the things
God has done, is doing, and will do in your lives.
I myself am about to make
a change. For the past six years I have had the opportunity to watch you grow
up through Jr. High and High School. Now it’s time to go. We all have anxiety
about what this means. Be strong. God is not through with you yet. It is only
the beginning.
There’s this great story
from the Bible. There was a young man by the name of Jacob. Jacob had grown up
in a very religious family. He himself was pretty indifferent to it. He wasn’t
necessarily against all the religious stuff his mom and dad were into; he just didn’t
follow it himself very strongly. Jacob was a lot like all of you. He had
dreams; passions; and a lot of hope for the future. But Jacob just couldn’t
bring himself to think very far outside of himself. His whole life was a very
self-centered existence. It was always, “Jacob gets what Jacob wants.”
One day, he had a pretty
big blow up with his family. He stole something that was very important to his
brother Esau, so much so that Esau wanted to kill Jacob. Jacob ran away from
home to get free from all of it. At first, Jacob thought that he had really
made it – away from home and able to live his life how he wanted. No more religious stuff from mom and dad. No more
fighting with his brother. No more expectations. Jacob finally got what he
thought he wanted. He thought he was being strong.
He made a lot of mistakes
in that time. He met a lot of girls. Did a little partying. Had to find a job.
In all of that “life stuff” Jacob just got angrier and more afraid and more
anxious. He kept thinking, “any day my brother is going to show up to beat me
up or even kill me.” He started a family of his; he did his best. But there was
never peace; never true happiness. It was all because Jacob thought being
strong meant being the best or being wealthy or having the hottest spouse or
the most security. He thought that being strong meant being able to walk all
over anyone that got in the way of the things he wanted. He thought being
strong meant taking what he wanted regardless of who it hurt. Being strong – as
far as Jacob was concerned – meant putting his desires ahead of all others. And
it was killing him. It was tearing apart his soul.
Anxiety, fear, no
direction, a troubled heart: do any of these things sound familiar? Have you
ever been there, Seniors? Are you there now? We tell you to be strong, but what
does even mean? Jacob had to be confronted with the truth. Having strength, as
it turns out, is less about what you can gain for yourself and more about what
God is able to do in spite of you.
So the story goes on:
Jacob one day found himself all alone. He was traveling with his family, but he
just felt like he needed to be alone. Sometimes, we all just need time alone.
He sent the kids and everyone on ahead. He was standing at a little creek out
in the middle of nowhere, and it was starting to get dark. Jacob was at a low
point in his life. The guy who had run away from home and run away from faith
was standing in the dark all alone – his soul wrenching from the agony of fear.
He couldn’t put his finger on what the problem was, only that he was trying to
be as strong as he possibly could. Out in the distance, in the darkness of that
place, what appeared to be another man started walking towards Jacob. The other
man didn’t say anything; he just grabbed hold of Jacob and wrestled him to the
ground. They fought all night long. As the sun was about to rise, the stranger
dislocated Jacob’s hip and told him, “From now on your name isn’t going to be
Jacob anymore. It will be Israel, which means ‘the one who struggles with God.’”
With that, the stranger disappeared, and Jacob knew that he had been wrestling
with God all night long.
Jacob’s life changed forever
after that. He realized for the first time in his life that his own strength
was worthless. His whole life he had been fighting with everybody – taking what
he wanted and living how he wanted. And, still, even with that version of
strength, Jacob was nothing. He had nothing. He was vulnerable. His heart was
sick with the years of sin and dark doubt and despair. “Oh my God,” he cried
out. “Save me. Save me from a life of vanity and self-centered pride.” As it
turns out, my friends, when we tell you to be strong, we are not telling you to
be like Jacob. In fact, we are telling you to submit to the one who is stronger
than any of us.
Here’s the funny thing
about strength. We as Christians don’t believe that it is physical strength
that ever wins the day. Sure, you may win a fight or two along the way, but
really our strength comes from the one who created us. Paul, in the New
Testament (hundreds of years after Jacob), put it this way: “Therefore
I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power
may rest on me. 10 That is why, for
Christ’s sake, I delight in
weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am
strong.” Jesus himself told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers,
they must first deny themselves. For the first will be last and the last will
be first.”
This
doesn’t seem right. The world around us has taught that you TAKE what you want;
that strength is about what you can GET not what you can give. We Christians
make this remarkable claim that our weakness is our strength, and it’s all
because we worship a God who submitted himself to live the life of a servant
and even to suffer on behalf of others. This is how the world is conquered:
through submission, service, and sacrifice. Your strength comes by way of your
willingness to give your life away for something so much bigger than yourself. That
is the strength of Almighty God.
It is so
true that you can go out into this world and take it. You can own this world on
your terms. You can get more stuff.
You can make money. You can walk all over your neighbors and hurt many people.
You can do all of this while getting every pleasure your heart desires. That’s
the thing about this world. It provides at one and the same times everything
you want and nothing that you need.
Be Strong. God is bigger than all of that. Be the
kind of person you were created to be. Be strong – not in the way the world
talks about strength but in the way God designed it. Paul said, “I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Your class Scripture
comes from the book of Joshua.” Be strong; Do not be terrified; do not be
discouraged; for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” It’s all
about God and what God is doing in your life, even if you don’t realize it.
Some of you are full of fear and doubt and maybe even anger. God is bigger than
that. Some of you don’t know what direction you are going. But God is bigger
than that. Some of you are sure of the future and desire to take hold of it. God
is bigger than even our understanding. I say to all of you, then, to trust in
the God who called you according to his purpose and you will know what an
abundant life – a life of complete joy – can really be.
The hard truth is that we
cannot begin to truly live until we let go of everything. I think we have an
ongoing problem with thinking that God will always desire the things we desire.
We wrongly assume that because we
want to be wealthy, successful, and well-thought of, that God must want those
same things for us. The truth is, we don’t know what living is until we quit
trying to live for ourselves. True life, Jesus tells us, begins in submission –
in the denial of yourself. To lose your life for God’s sake means that you will
gain it. You will find strength for the journey, not from anything you have
done for yourself but from what God has done and is doing for you.
Following Jesus into this world– even in the day
to day – in that every day, walking around life – is nothing short of
consuming. At least, it should be. We behave as if God is very small. But God
is bigger than anything I could ever ask for or imagine. God is the source of
our strength, and the way of God will take
you to places you never could have imagined before. With Jesus, we find the
power of God that is capable of overcoming any of our hindrances, hesitations,
and hang-ups.
Sister and brothers, be
strong. Be strong in the Lord your God who has called you to his eternal
purpose, and that purpose is to find faith, hope, and love worked out every
day. Find strength in the God who gave himself up for you and me. THIS LIFE –
you make take. But you’ll never truly live until you let go and let God be the
source of your strength. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
