ken castor

Re:Solution sermon ~ ken castor - brentview (Jan 3, 2010)

Jan 03 2010 Re:Solution ~ Pastor Ken                                 

Perhaps you start every year having some issues in your life that could use some... could we say... addressing.  Have you tried resolving them in your own resolve? Do New Year's resolutions actually solve the problems?  Or maybe you are one of the millions around the globe that no longer even try to make resolutions because they have not worked.  95% of people do not follow through with the "re"solutions by the end of the first month every single year.

In this sermon given at Brentview on January 3, 2010, Ken Castor encourages you to quit trying to fix yourself again and again every year. Instead, try a new approach... a New Year's solution approach based on the way God created you.

Your Private Life: Part 2b

Are you convinced yet that your private life isn't private?  Well, maybe the second part of the second question regarding your private life will convince you:

Is your private life really private? 

We assume that as long as what we do in private stays private, then we are entitled to keep it private.  But here's the second problem with this idea:

Problem number 2: Your private life is not private because your private life impacts others.  What you keep private actually effects people.  Think of the tension that existed in the Garden as a result of Adam and Eve trying to hide their sin.  The whole of creation was impacted.  Sin changed the game; over just one screw-up.  We can’t be too hard on them; how many times each day do we sin and try to cover it up?  How many times do we change the game because we try to hide what we’ve done?             

What you keep private and to yourself effects others.  Think of the marriage where the husband is addicted to pornography.  Think of how that impacts the way he views his wife, the way it impacts their sexual relationship, the way it builds temptations of thought and action that run counter to the promises he made in his vows.  Think of the way his wife is not receiving the lavish-ment of love and the encouragement of her beauty that she deserves from her husband.  And still, the husband pretends to himself that he’s faithful because he hasn’t physically touched another woman and it hasn’t really hurt anybody because it’s done in the so-called “privacy” of his mind and own body.  If he ever was to be caught, it would change the game.  And so, the husband, every time he erases the history on the browser, covers things up with fig leaves.  But he has not covered up the impact.            

We know the book of Proverbs is about wisdom, but do we know that a huge portion of this book deals with hidden sexual sin.  If there is one thing that trips up wisdom, it’s the lusting libido.  All of chapter Five, chapter Seven, and numerous other verses throughout the book deal with this hidden problem.            

If someone were to ask you, “What do you have hidden in your heart?”  What comes to your mind?  What would you not want to reveal?  What do you have hidden in there?  When we’re asked that question, we assume it is a negative answer: “What are you hiding in your heart?” “Oooh, you don’t really want to know that.”  But the Good News is that we don’t have to answer negatively.  We can answer in freedom.  Our private life can be exposed without it being embarrassing.  What do you have hidden in your heart?  Psalm 119:11 says, “God, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”  In all of those deep hidden crevices of our lives, we could actually plant God’s word there.  Can you imagine, if you struggle with a private, hidden sin or a worry or a secret anger against someone or a certain destructive behavior, what if when you went to open that password protected closet, God’s word was residing there?  Wouldn’t it be good to answer the question “What do you have hidden in your heart?” with an abundant sense of freedom and joy and strength and life and truth and love and hope and faith because “I have God’s word hidden in there.”            

And as a result, when God’s word resides inside of you, you can’t help but to reflect that on the outside.  Psalm 40:10 says “I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from people.”  God living in us was never meant to be a private affair.  Seriously, is your faith private?  That’s a disgusting idea. If God is living in us, then the inside of our life is to be shared because it’s good.  Imagine keeping your faith private and meanwhile your neighbors’ lives could really use your encouragement of faith.  Our hearts are not supposed to be hidden and private.  Our hearts are supposed to be lived openly and freely for God and for others.  Look, the truth is, your private life is not really yours and it is not really private.  It is God’s.  God sees it.  God shapes it.   It is supposed to overflow with his pattern to positively impact others, not be covered up to the detriment of others. 

Look, I know some of you are feeling a bit protective right now and saying, Ken, there are some things we should keep to ourselves.  I’m not saying you should start airing your dirty laundry for everyone to see… but I am saying you need to do the laundry otherwise it piles up.  You do need to air your soul, your heart, your mind, and your strength to the Lord so that he can refresh you and prepare you to display his love to this world.

re:solution (part 8)

79: COMMUNITY - RESOLVING TO RECEIVE SUPPORT FROM OTHERS: The psalmist writes, “May those who fear you turn to me, those who understand your statutes.”  He realizes that there are many others who follow after God who could in this time of his life offer him support.  And so he asks of God, “Please, bring people around me to help me make it.”  Turn people in my direction.  Let people cross my path.  Allow me to be with others who are like-minded so that I can be encouraged to live according to the way your hands have made me. 

         In both verses 74 and 79, the phrase to describe the community is “those who fear you.”  In verse 74, the psalmist asks that those who fear God would be encouraged by the way he lived; that his pursuit of God would inspire them.  And in verse 79, the psalmist asks that those who fear God would encourage him by the way that they live.  

         This is how church community is supposed to work.  We are not supposed to be isolated on our own in our hardships striving to live with failed New Year’s resolutions.  No, we live for God first and foremost seeking communion with him.  And by living for God and discovering his core truths, the result is that we live in communion with each other.  We lift each other up.  Our desire becomes to encourage others to live for God and to have others encourage us.  When this happens we can’t help but to rejoice.  Are you trying to resolve to fix your life on your own?  Are you in some hardship and don’t know how you’re going to make it because you feel separated from God and are lacking good support in community?  Ask God to turn people who fear Him towards you.  Don’t go it alone.  And finally, again, remember to live how you were created to live.

 

80: ME - RESOLVING TO LIVE HOW I AM CREATED TO LIVE: Verse 80 says, “May my heart be blameless in keeping your principles; then I will never have to be ashamed.”  When we live according to how God made us, then we cannot be ashamed.  Shame is not a part of God’s creation.  Shame is a result of failed human resolutions.  When we resolve to live the way we were created to live, then we will be able to live in His joy and peace.  May we understand live God’s ways and live with his resolve.

   Do you want a new resolve this year?  Then seek to understand that…

• God created you
• To inspire others in community
• To embrace His discipline
• To know his unfailing love
• To know His unending compassion
• To succeed through hardship
• To receive support from others
• SO THAT you could live according to His ways.

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re:solution (part 7)

78: TRIAL - STANDING FIRM IN HARDSHIP: Delight in God’s ways, however, is not removed from the realities of our struggles.  In verse 78, the psalmist gets specific about the situation of life that he is facing.  While the Lord may discipline him for his own good, it would seem here that there are people who are abusing him.  There seem to have been people who had harmed him or maligned him in some way.  We don’t know the details.  We just catch a glimpse here that the person who wrote this psalm is suffering under the weight of people who are wronging him unjustly.  And I think many of us can relate to this.  For many of us the year that has ended has brought unfair circumstances upon us and we have begun the New Year in struggle and in fear and in pain and upset that there is so much wrong in our lives that we had nothing to do with. 

         One constant since the beginning of humanity has been that people have suffered for no good reason.  And I mean no good reason.  We were created good, but when we rejected good, we received bad.  And ever since people have suffered hardship whether it be physical (through sickness or plight) or personal (through the hurtful hands of others).  The point of verse 78 is that the psalmist is trusting God to right the wrongs that are beyond his control.  No resolution of his own can fix this problem.  The only thing he can do is to stand firm in the hardship by trusting God to act justly.  And in return he is pledging himself to live according to God’s ways.  God is a God of unfailing love and unending compassion, so the psalmist is committing himself to God.  He’s promising to walk humbly with God.  He wants God to bring to justice those who are utilizing hurt and abuse for their own gain, and for his demise.  He wants God to bring justice because he knows he was not created for unjust treatment.  “Your hands formed me, God.  Don’t let people treat me like this.  Bring justice.  And God, in the hardship, I will look to you.”  He says, verse 78: “May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause; but I will meditate on your precepts.”  These others, they failed to live according to God’s ways.  But the author is not going to stoop to that game.  Despite the hardship, he’s going to live the way God made him to live.

         I’m not saying it’s going to be easy.  But that brings us to verse 79 and the reminder that we are not alone in hardship.  For better or for worse, we are surrounded by a multitude of witnesses who are in community with us.

re:solution (part 6)

76: CORE TRUTH- LIVING IN GOD’S UNFAILING LOVE:  While God disciplines us to make us better people, we also receive God’s comfort through his unfailing love.  It’s no coincidence that immediately following his comment about discipline, the psalmist reflects on God’s love.  God’s way at first seems harder, yes, but God’s way is richer, is more secure, has more comfort, is more encouraging, and uplifting.  In the midst of learning the discipline of living according to God’s ways, comfort comes to us by way of his unfailing love.  All of this is in line with his promise to his people.  Those who follow in God’s footsteps will know his unfailing love.  The phrase in Hebrew here pictures God coming to us as a friend.  He’s not going to let us get away with wrecking our lives, he’s going to call us on our behavior; he’s a true friend.  But he’s also not going to just punish us, but he’s going to love us unfailingly.  It’s part of his entire promise throughout the Bible.  God’s love is unfailing.  His love never fails.  So the psalmist remembers the essence of God’s character and appeals to God in verse 76, “May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.”  We have hope and assurance that God will be an ever-present help to us.  And this relates to the next core truth…

 

77: CORE TRUTH- LIVING IN GOD’S COMPASSION: The psalmist prays, “Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight.”   The more the writer of this psalm seemed to pursue and enjoy God’s ways, the more he asked for God’s compassion.  As he allowed himself to be shaped by God’s hands, the softer his heart grew.  He’d learned that when he lived a life separate from God’s ways, then life is not truly lived.  The only way to live like you were created to live is to live in the core truths of God’s unfailing love and his generous compassion.   When we are armed with the strength of God’s unrelenting resolve of love and passion for us, then we can live well in His hope and we can rejoice even in suffering.  And precisely because it is hard to live well in this life in this world in any given year, we must delight in God’s unfailing love and his unending compassion.

re:solution (part 5)

75: TRIAL - EMBRACING DISCIPLINE FROM GOD:  The psalmist writes, “I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”  This is hard verse to accept: Accountability from God.  I would love to resolve to have everything go easy for me this year and to have nobody get on my case when I mess up.  I am a person that loves to do what I want to do.  I’m a creature of comfort, and breaking my resolutions is more comfortable in the short run than dealing with them. 

         The point of verse 75 is that God disciplines us so that we will be people of resolution who are able to follow after his ways because he knows that what’s best for us is to live according to his ways.   God afflicts us and gives us hardship sometimes so that we can understand who we were created to be and how we were created to live.  If I’ve developed a bad habit because I’m serving myself, God will bring situations or difficulty into my life in order to give me the opportunity to live the right way.  I may not like it, but in the Lord’s faithfulness, I must learn to understand his commands and embrace his discipline.

         The reason everybody in the world is upset with Tiger Woods right now is because he seemed like a person of discipline who had uncanny control over his life.  Yet we have discovered that he certainly lacked discipline.  Gillette, Accenture, AT&T, and almost the whole rest of the world is disappointed in him.  I’m sure he doesn’t like it, but you know what, he has a real opportunity to have his life remade for good.  He has a real chance to learn right now how to live more and more according to the way God created him to live.  He’s in trouble.  But through the affliction of this period in his life, I pray he will turn to God more and more, that he will better understand God’s faithfulness, and that he will learn to live according to God’s ways.  And before you jump on his case too much, you must admit, just as the writer of this psalm admitted, that we are all sheep who have gone astray.  The same principle of discipline is true for each one of us.  If you are messing it up by messing in sin, God will discipline you because he is faithful to you and to his plan for you.  And if you aren’t willing to learn in the discipline, then your resolutions are going to fail.  There can be no success without enduring through trial.

         Romans 5 says that we rejoice in our sufferings; isn’t that crazy?  It says that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character, and character produces hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

         Most of our New Year’s resolutions fail because we lack the necessary self-discipline and we reject the divine-discipline from God.  We want to be new but we don’t want to go through the refining fire.  But to reject God’s faithfulness in discipline is to reject his accountability in our lives.  Proverbs 3:11 says, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.”  And this moves us to an incredible core truth:

(series continued tomorrow...)

                  

re:solution (part 4)

74: COMMUNITY - RESOLVING TO INSPIRE OTHERS: When we live according to the way we were created to live, according to God’s plans and patterns for our lives, others will be inspired to do the same.  They will see us living in rhythm with how we were created to be, and they will rejoice.  The psalmist says in verse 74: “May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.” 

         One of the key reason’s our New Year’s resolutions fail is because we do it in secret.  The chances of success go way up when we include a community of like-minded people into the equation.  How many of you have tried to form a positive new habit, or to stop a negative old habit, in your life without the aide of others?  It’s hard.  It’s easy to fall back into old patterns.  But when we have others there encourage us to put our hope in God and to celebrate victories over our problems there is tremendous potential for success.  When a person puts their hope in God, others are inspired.  If I were to follow after God and do well in my life, then you might rejoice and be inspired to have victory with God’s help over an issue in your own life too.  And if you place that kind of hope in the Lord and strive to live according to the way you were created, then I’ll be further encouraged as well.  The solution to our resolution problem involves the celebrating community of God’s people.

         The Good News is that God surrounds us with accountability.  But our resolutions usually fail because we don’t seek out accountability.  You can’t stop eating fast food if your whole family keeps pressing you to go to Wendy’s all the time.  You can’t quit smoking if nobody in your family is willing to help you.  And ultimately it’s hard to continue to put your hope in God’s ways and to address the deeper issues in your life if you are not surrounding yourself in a community of people who fear the Lord.  This leads right into the next verse…

 

re:solution (part 3)

73: ME - RESOLVING TO UNDERSTAND WHO I AM CREATED TO BE: “Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.”  We are to live God’s way.  The way God created us to live, we are to live that way.  How should I live?  Live the way that God made you to live.  What should I resolve to do this year?  Seek after the Creator who made you and ask him for understanding on how to live, on how to overcome the obstacles in your life, on how to be a better person this year.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”  It’s simple really.  I don’t know why we try to complicate our lives so much with our own resolve.  The simple truth is that we should live according to the way that God made us to live.  We should seek after God, asking him, “God who did you create me to be?”  And as we learn that, as we come to understand that more, then we will know more and more who we are and how we are to live.

         Our resolutions fail because we lean on our own understanding.  It would be like us trying to fix the Hubble telescope on our own without consulting those who made the thing and without a clue how to even get to the source of the problem.   It’s great that we come up with resolutions to fix ourselves each year.  That’s a good thing.  But it’s ridiculous to expect that we can really fix ourselves, especially without consulting the One who made us and without being able to solve the core source of our problems.  I ask you today, “Who has God made you and what did God make you to do?  What does He want you to focus on this year?  What does God want to empower you to do?  Have you asked him what New Year’s solution he has for you?”

         The key factor for us to remember is that God hand-made us.  Personally and powerfully he has knit us together.  So if we truly understand this, says the psalmist, then we would resolve to follow God’s way for our life.  When we are given understanding of God’s commands, then we will know better what to do, and how to do it. 

re:solution (part 2)

(... continued from yesterday...)

        There are many passages of Scripture that can help us with a true New Year’s solution.  Today I want us to think about 8 verses right in the middle of the longest chapter right in the middle of the Bible.  Take a look at Psalm 119:73-80. 

         When the writer of Psalm 119 paused to take account of his life he recalled God’s plans for him.  The psalmist realized that if he was going to live the kind of life that he was created to live, he must live according to the ways of his Creator.  Any resolution plan had to be filtered through the lens of God.  It’s as if the psalmist said, “God, I don’t think I have it in me.”  And it’s as if God would resound back, “You do have it in you.  I made you.  I created you with my own hands.  And if you let me, I can do some amazing things in you.” 

re:solution (part 1)

 
         Are you one of those people who has you put some thought to doing some things differently, and hopefully better, than last year?  Each year about 50% of people make some sort of resolution to spend more time with our family.  66% of people make a resolution related to losing weight or getting fit.  Millions of people this year are making the resolution to get out of debt.  At the beginning of each year people resolve to start some good habits (like going to the gym or eating more vegetables) and to stop some bad habits (like “fill-in-the-blank”).   In the first week of January people can be resolute about throwing away cigarettes or being nicer or getting more sleep or getting more organized or helping others more than they did the year before. 

         We strive to make the coming year better because we know that last year we had some problems in our lives.  We might realize that smoking is slowly killing us and so we’ve got to stop. Or perhaps we realize that we missed opportunities to do good deeds or that we were too selfish.  We make New Year’s resolutions in order to bring solutions to last year’s problems.  But it’s interesting to me that we don’t call them New Year’s “solutions.”  We call them “resolutions” because we want to resolutely solve our problems.  But I think we have a problem with our resolute-ness!  Our track record on keeping our resolutions is so poor, that perhaps we should call them “re” solutions.  After all, the solution we planned out last year didn’t pan out and we have to do it all over again this year.  We are reworking on our problem.  We are readdressing our issues.  After only 1 week, we fail 75% of the time to follow up on our resolutions.  That means, that four days from today, by January 7, most of us will have already given up our resolve to once again solve our problems.  We aren’t very resolute!  By the end of January, 95% of all our resolutions will already be broken.  It’s been said, “A new year is a chance to get a fresh start on some old habits.”

         Perhaps you should try a new approach.  Someone has compiled a top ten list of resolutions you can keep, that you can actually achieve.  Perhaps this will help you succeed in the New Year.  Here we go: