The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 1: The Sovereignty of God in Pain

Episode Date: July 9, 2017

Sometimes we suffer pain because of us, sometimes because of the enemy, but always under the sovereign hand of God…but God is always good. He always has a purpose and a promise.

It's going to be one of those Sundays. You didn't even know, did you? I thought you were going to go to church and be at the beach. Well, good luck. Hey, welcome to 1122. If you've got your Bible grab it, we're going to be in the book of Ruth for the next month and a half of your life. And what we were talking about is the story of how an almighty sovereign God uses this little girl from nowhere to change the entire world. And you see, last week, I didn't really mean to.

do this, but last week was kind of the setup for this week. Wasn't on purpose, but again, I just said, God is sovereign, so nothing happens by accident. Last week, we talked about the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus said, if you had the faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain move and it'll move. And then an itty-bitty little teeny-weeny amount of faith, the mustard seed amount of faith, and an enormous, all-powerful, infinite God is infinitely bigger than a whole bunch of faith than a little bit of nothing, which would be like you or me.

And last week we said there was a man that came to Jesus with just a tiny little bit of faith. And he said, Jesus, if you can do something, could you? And Jesus said, if I can, all things are possible for those who believe. And the man said, I believe, help me overcome my unbelief. But this week, we start out with the story of Ruth, which is really a story of loss and love and legacy. And what happens when, from our perspective, God doesn't come through? When God doesn't heal your son? when you do feel hopeless.

What happens when the doctor's report is terminal? What happens when you didn't get the job, when you have not been cured of the disease? You see, I'm a guy that believes that the Bible teaches that God is sovereign above all things. He's before all things, he's in all things, he holds all things together. And honestly, in my world, I don't know how much you think about this. I think about it a lot, it's because it's my job.

So if you sell cars, I'm sure if you think about like V. and verses v6, V8, but anyway, I don't know what you think about all day, but I think about this kind of stuff, and I'm a sovereignty of God guy, which means I think that the Bible teaches that every single thing in heaven and under heaven that God is in charge of, that he's never been surprised, that he is the supreme ruler over the macro and the micro, that does not mean that we don't reflect his image and can't make decisions, but that he's never been surprised. He never popped up in heaven and went, what happened in Jacksonville? Never, ever, ever.

And quite honestly, that kind of sovereignty, it bothers some people. It really, really bothers some people. Because they ask the legitimate question, if God is sovereign and all-powerful and he is loving, then how do you explain this? I get that. To me, it brings me a great sense of peace to understand that he is in charge of all things. Because if not, then what hope do we have? I do not believe the Bible teaches that we serve a God that's driving around in an ambulance in this great universe, just trying to clean up all the messes that we are making.

But he is in charge of all things. So what do you do when seemingly there is nothing to do? That's what we're going to talk about. And yet, in God, this freaks me out, okay? and God's sovereign, almighty plan to redeem the world unto himself, it seems that a few times in the scripture, this sovereign plan bottlenecks down to one individual person. And God is going to take this one little nobody in terrible circumstances

to potentially change the circumstances for anybody that would believe. Her name is Ruth. And so if you got your Bible, go to Ruth, Ruth Chapter 1, it doesn't start out too great. Ruth 1-1 starts out this way. In the days when the judges ruled. Now, you remember we studied the Book of Judges some time ago. It all runs together for me.

And the point of the book of judges, it was a time in the life of Israel when one of the most repeated phrases in the Book of Judges is, and they did what was right in their own eyes. It is a generation in a nation of crooked, depraved, idolaters like us. And this is when all of this takes place. In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.

So not only is it morally tough, it's economically tough, it's a tough time to live. And a man of Bethlehem, which is interesting because of the name Bethlehem, the town, it means the house of bread. So there's a famine in a place called the House of Bread. So this is kind of an oxymoron here. So God wants us to know, it'd be like, so these people, are starving to death at the all-you-can-eat-buffet. You understand? That's what's happening here.

So a man of Bethlehem in Judah, he went to sojourn in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his two sons. And so here's what this man's doing, okay? He looks around at a current situation. He goes, listen, there's no way to make money here and feed my family here, so we're going to move over to Moab. He's just trying to take care of his people, at least for their physical wants and needs. Verse two, the name of the man was.

was a Linalek. That name means God is king. And the name of his wife was Naomi. It means sweetness. That's her name, sweetness. So sweetness and my God is king. They moved to Moab. And you say, well, what's the problem of moving to Moab? Well, there's some very big problems. First of all, in both Leviticus and Deuteronomy, God said, don't live in Moab. And they went, whatever, we're going to Moab. And the problem was because this was a crooked and depraved people. They worshipped a God called Camash. There was child sacrifice there. There was crazy sexual perversion there. In fact, the tribe that led to this group of people called Moab was from an incestuous relationship. So the family trees in Moab were like a pool queue. You understand what I'm saying? If you're from Tennessee, you know what I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Not really. So these are very bad people doing very bad things. They are idolaters, pagan, worshippers, killing babies. I mean, it is bad, bad, bad. And so God says, don't move there, don't live there.

You see, the whole idea of God calling the nation of Israel unto himself was not for the nation of Israel. That the people of God, the nation of Israel, and now the church, were supposed to be a city on a hill, a light for the world, salt of the earth, so that when the people of this world saw these people doing good deeds, they would worship the Father in heaven. That was the point. And so, God says, I'm holy. Therefore, you should be holy. Holy doesn't mean perfect. It means set apart.

In other words, we're going to live by a different set of values that show that ultimately we are not citizens of this world, but our citizenship is another kingdom. Therefore, God says, so don't move to Moab. And yet, Elimelot, his name means God is king, but it actually doesn't look like or live like God is his king, because when he looks around his current circumstances, he goes, you know what, I've got to take care of me and mine. So I'm going to disobey God and I'm going to move into this place called Moab where there is where there's no worship, where there's no fellowship, where there's no temple, where there's no sacrifice, there's no God people, there's no God stuff. There's just the temporary.

That's what I'm going to go try to take care of. And the truth is it is really, really hard to move away from God's people and experience the blessing of God unless you are moving because you have a call of God on your life to call out more of God. people. That would be called missions. Now listen, this is not just an Old Testament thing. I hear this all the time right here. I know we live in a very mobile society. And I know a bunches of you are going to move in the next 18 months or 18 days. And yet, what a bunch of Christians do is they only look at your temporary circumstances and those seem to be the primary decision makers on where you live.

and this whole idea of being connected to a faith family doesn't even make the list. And here's how I know. I'm just giving you a warning. Because every week I get an email that says, Pastor, I'm moving to this place. Is there a good church there? How in the world, you've already decided you're moving, and now you're asking that question? It should at least be like 1A. If I'm going to disconnect myself from this move of God, where am I going to reconnect myself?

when I move to this new place. It is really hard to move yourself away from the people of God and still have the blessing of God. You see, here's what it seems like. I know you wouldn't say it this way, but from my point of view, it seems like the neighborhood you live in and the school systems you are a part of and where your kid goes to college sometimes seems to be more important

than where your kid spends eternity. You can say, out of your amen. All the single people went, get them! And the rest of us like, uh-uh. And so, man, the great 20th century theologian, Coach Bulli, my football coach, used to say, show me your friends, and I will show you your future. And so when Limelech takes his family and moves to a place that is not worshiping God to try to take care of his temporary needs. And I bet if I could ask Alamek, hey, bro, what are you doing, man?

You might want to check out the scene before you go. He would probably say, hey, listen, I'm just trying to love my family by providing food and shelter. Listen, possums do that for their children. You understand? We might need to raise the bar on what it means to be a godly man ruling a godly home other than just food and shelter. But this is what Elimelech does. Takes his family to Moab.

It says in the names of his two sons were Malon, and I think it's pronounced Killian, but I'm going to pronounce it chilling because I like that better. They sound like cling on names. You know what they mean in Hebrew? Sick and dying. So if you're, if you've got twin boys and you're, you right now and you're looking for biblical names. Don't go with Malian and chilling, okay?

Here's my boy walking pneumonia and his brother bird flu. There they are. Okay, I wouldn't go with it. They were Ephraimites from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and they remained there. Again, this is not good. There's no temple, there's no worship.

There's no fellowship. Verse three, but Alemelaq, the husband of Naomi, died. And she was left with her two sons. Now remember, why did he move to Moab to not die? And he dies in Moab. Verse 4. And these, her sons, took Moabat wives, which is not good.

It is not good. Now, let me be clear about why it's not good. It has nothing to do with race at all whatsoever. I haven't heard this question in 20 years, but 20 years ago I heard it a lot more, especially in the little hicktown I grew up in, is God against interracial marriage. God is not against interracial marriage at all. We are all, every single one of us, created in the image of God. God is against interfaith marriage.

Here's why. Because, a first grader can figure this out, okay? If you were dating somebody and they are not a Christian and you're like, yeah, but I really love them. Well, I got good news for you. Jesus loves them more than you do. And you're probably in the way of his salvific work in their life, and you should get out of the way and let them be focused on Jesus. Because if Jesus is at the center of your life and he's not at the center of this other person's life, and you are a follower of Jesus, and this other person isn't a follower of Jesus.

Guess what? Y'all are not going in the same direction, and one day it will rip you apart. I've told you this before. You're going to look like the person getting off a boat too slow. That thing just gets further and further away, and eventually you have to make a decision. That's where you are. Now, a lot of you, 112, say, okay, well, I already married. I'm currently married to somebody, and I'm a believer, and they're not.

What do I do? Am I supposed to ditch them? Absolutely not. The book of First Corinthians says that if you're a believer married to an unbeliever, that you should love that unbeliever like Christ, love the church. 99% of the time it is a wife here at church and your husband is playing golf right now or something and doesn't love Jesus. You're like, what should I do?

Should I nag him into the kingdom? It's never worked so far in the history of eternity, but you can give it a shot. It's probably why he's playing golf right now, but that's a different sermon. What you should do is this. The more you go to church, the more he should benefit. regardless of what he believes. That every time you come home from this fellowship of believers, he's like, this is really working out well for me. You should go to church more.

And then eventually, you'll bring him and he'll say yes, and then I'll get him. Deal? That's how we'll do that. So the sons took them all by the wives because that was the only option. There were no good godly women there. And so the Bible says that we should not be unequally yoked in 1st Corinthians. And what it means is a yoke was this wooden thing that you would put on to horses or oxen. And if you're unequally yoked, if you're heading in opposite directions, you'll either tear that thing apart or you'll be like a one leg of duck, swimming a circle the whole time, can't get anything done.

And what God calls us to do is marry people is to serve the Lord together to be on the same path and the same race. But they took Moabite wives. The name of one was Orpa, that means neck, maybe stiff neck. And the name of the other was Ruth. It's hard to know what her name means. In Hebrew, in original Hebrew, biblical Hebrew, they didn't have vowels, only consonants. And so the consonants that make up the name Ruth are the same consonants that make up the word ruah. So a decent, which means breath or spirit.

And so I think a pretty decent translation of the name Ruth is this, breath of fresh air. And so one of them marries stiff neck. One of them marries breath of fresh air. And they lived there about 10 years. Both Malon and Chilling died. so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. This is Naomi. And Naomi finds herself in a place in a foreign land with no husband and no son.

And that is painful for any person in any generation. But in this time period, that was also in this patriarchal time period. If you didn't have a man to take care of you, you were homeless and helpless and hopeless. And so very, very quickly, she's doing three funerals for her husband and both of her sons. And I'm sure she's thinking, why, why? Why did this happen to me? I mean, what did I do? Is it my fault?

Is it because I moved to the wrong land? Is it just because life happens and just bad things happen? God, I was just trying to follow my husband. It was his idea to bring us here to Moab. I mean, what should I do? I mean, listen, don't tell me this book is outdated. You ever been there before? You ever been there? You get the call, and it's just bad news.

I mean, the diagnosis is terminal. The funeral is over. The divorce is final. And you're thinking, what now? And you look up to heaven and say, God, why did this happen? Is it because we moved to the wrong place? Is it just because life happens? I mean, what is it?

And I'll tell you, man, I can give you the theologically accurate answer that will do absolutely nothing for your heart. The question goes this way. So if God is all powerful and God is all loving, then why do bad things happen to good people? Well, first of all, there are no good people. So you've got to start there. There was one good person, really bad thing happened to him turned out to be really good for us. But I understand what you mean. Things happen in our life like a brain tumor and you go, okay,

God, if I'm in charge, I don't think I'd do that. I don't think I'd give good Christian girls brain tumors. I think terrorist's brain tumor. That's how I'd do it. You have a terrorist idea, it turns into a tumor, your head rots off. That sounds like a great idea to me. What's wrong with that? Apparently he doesn't run it that way. And you say, God, why? And I can tell you, a part of it, sometimes, sometimes the enemy's coming after you, but any pain we've suffered ever is at least collateral damage of sin, not your individual sin necessarily, but of of the sinfulness of humanity. When Adam and Eve were created by God, there was no sin, there was no pain.

They're just skipping around naked making babies, eating fruit and stuff. And then when sin comes into this world, man, it fractures everything. Not only just God cursed the man and God cursed the woman and God cursed the enemy, but God also curses all of creation, which means on a macro level, things like weather systems will not obey, and they kind of go rogue sometimes, and hurricanes and tornadoes happen, and all the way down to the micro and the cells in our body are chaotic. And while that is theologically accurate,

it does not help your heart at all when you're in the middle of pain. The other thing that does not help is if you think that you can't ask why. If somebody ever told you, you're not supposed to ask God why, then they need to read the Bible. Have you read Psalm 22? Before Jesus quoted it on the cross, David says in Psalm 22, my God, my God, why? have you forsaken me?

And then the Holy Spirit of God said, that's good, David, write that down. Let's put that one in the book. So everybody can read that one forever. And in fact, we're going to put it right in front of the 23rd Psalm, so maybe somebody will bump into it and read it. You see, she's asking why. And again, because there's sin in this world, man. This is a broken and chaotic world.

And when you find yourself in that place, and the next question, after you ask, why, yes, because as long as you need to, is, well, what should we do? What should we do? And what's crazy here is that Naomi, somehow she understands that the only thing to do in this place of utter desperation is return to God and His people. And so she goes, I got to go back home to God and His people. And so, verse 6, and she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab,

for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. So the famine is over and blessing is found amongst the people of God. And so she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, go return each of you to her mother's house. And then Naomi prays. And here's her prayer for her two daughters-in-law who are in immense pain just like she is.

May the Lord deal kindly with you. That word kindly is the Hebrew word has said. It's a really hard one to translate. Some translations like the King James and the NIV, they go with loving kindness. So Naomi, in the worst time of her entire life, she buried her husband and her two sons, and yet her prayer over her daughter's-in-law is this. even though I don't understand what's happening around me, I know this. At the heart of our Father God, there is loving kindness, and may he be kind to you.

That's what she understands. And so she says, may the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband. And then she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and they wept and they said to her, no, we will return with you to your people, but Naomi said, turn back my daughters, not daughters in law, but daughters. Why? Because they've been together for 10 years, man, this is family. And she says, why will you go with me? And then she gets super practical. She says, have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a

husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters. What she's saying, you see, in this culture, there is no welfare, there is no social security. So if you had a brother and he was married and he died and did not leave children to take care of mama, then you would take on his wife as yours so that you could carry on the name and someone could take care of her. And so what she was she? is saying is look girls what you're going to do I mean even if even if we go back to Judah today and it goes awesome and I swipe right get married and pregnant all in

the same day you still got 18 to 20 to wait until he's old enough for you to marry and you don't want to wait that long now here's the problem man she is only looking at the horizontal she says no my daughters it is exceedingly bitter for me for your sake ready for this that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. And you know why she says it? Because she's right. And I know that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. That makes a whole lot of people uncomfortable to understand that an almighty sovereign God could have at least prevented all of this pain, and yet he didn't. To me, I'm telling you, it gives me great hope that there is purpose in all things, especially the things that I don't

understand. And I think the reason it makes a lot of folks uncomfortable is because we really like to be in control of all things. And we're not. And we want to look at God and tell him how to do things. I know I do. I give him suggestions all the time. Lord, in my 43 years, this is what I think.

He doesn't take them very often. Verse 14. Then they lifted up their voices and they wept again and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. Verse 15. And she said, see, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods, return after your sister-in-law. Now here's what's crazy.

Naomi is trying to make the exact same mistake that her husband, Alimalec, made. What Naomi is doing here is she assesses her situation. She says, this is awful. And girls, as I look at you to Moabite girls, here's what it seems like your best move would be, is you need to go and marry Moabite boys who live in Moab. So why don't you go home, finding some new husbands, and hopefully you live a good,

life. Raise little Moabag pagan kids and worship your pagan God. One day you're going to die and go to hell, but we won't worry about that right now. But you just do whatever it takes. Take the convenient, temporary choice because it's easier instead of doing the hard, right thing. And she's about to fall into the same trap that Alemlech fell into. And here's the thing. And Orpah says, all right, and she leaves. And by the way, we never hear of her again in the rest of the Bible. She's gone. It's over. My question is, are you doing that? I'm like, you say you believe in God.

Come here to church, close your eyes, lift one hand, especially if we sing the song long enough that you can memorize the words. You really get into it. You feel these feelings and all of this. And yet, when it comes down to the choices that we make in our life, you're making the convenient temporary choices over and over and over as if you're a citizen of this kingdom. Versus trusting the sovereign hand of the almighty God to say,

I'm not going to live here forever, so I'm going to live as if I'm a citizen of another kingdom, his kingdom, because I actually am. And let me tell you, it is easy, easy, easy for us to get our eyes focused on the temporary things of this world. Do you know why? Because people spend billions of dollars a month trying to get us to buy into the systems and values of this world. And it is way more comfortable, and it is way easier, and it is way more temporary. This is what she's doing. she's like the worst evangelist of all time

she's like why don't you just go worship other gods because she's looking at the temporary and then look what Ruth says man if I did your wedding which is about 700 of you in here I think you heard me say these words in your wedding here's what Ruth says Ruth says to Naomi do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you for wherever you go I will go and wherever you lodge I will lodge your people will be my people and here it goes

this is her salvation moment in your God, my God. And where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. And may the Lord, and you see how the Lord is capitalized? This means this, the Hebrew word Yahweh. Yahweh is the covenant name for God. Now she's not saying that I just believe that there is a God in Israel. She's saying, your God, I want it to be my God. And I want to be in a covenant relationship with this God that is somehow helping you endure this pain.

Because I'm in pain too, and I want what you got. And so she says, may the Lord. Lord, do so to me and more also. If anything but death parts me from you. And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. And there's so much in this one declaration from Ruth, so much. There's at least four things. Number one.

This is Ruth's conversion. This is the moment where Ruth becomes a spectator of what God is doing in somebody's life to a receiver of what God is doing in her life. And here's the part, here's the part that I love. And somehow it's Naomi's walk through this pain that leads Ruth to want to know the Lord as her own. You see, for a long time in church growth world, there's been this idea that if Christians should just be the most awesome people in society, then everybody would see that and they would want to be Christians too. I call Bolshkubilan. You see, because if the idea is, if you love Jesus, you get cash and prizes, and the world goes, I want that.

They don't want Jesus. They won't cash in prizes. That is idolatry. God does not play well with idols. And what happens here is that Ruth watches her mother-in-law in the most difficult time in her life. And in essence, in her own way, Naomi is saying, no, Christ is enough for me. the way Paul would say it in the book of Philippians is that is that God would give us a peace that transcends understanding

and guard our heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Man, you've seen some people, or either you've been the person, an immense amount of pain, and with tears rolling down your eyes, and at the same time joy in your heart, and you're saying, His grace is sufficient for me, is the most powerful testimony on the plan, it. And Ruth sees that and sees Naomi in the toughest times of her life going towards God and not away

from him. And I think the reason that Naomi could do this, because the reason her testimony was so powerful is she did not fall in either of the extremes. One extreme that some people fall into based on their circumstances is it's hopeless. As long as we got Jesus, it ain't hopeless. As long as there's forever, it's not hopeless. I'm not saying it's not awful, but it's not hopeless because in Christ there is always hope. The other extreme is when people fake it and act like everything is awesome. Everything is not awesome. I mean, I've seen some people that grew up in church and they were trained to just have these little things they're supposed to say and their life is falling apart. Like, how you doing, sister? Oh, I'm just blessed and highly favored. God is good and all the time

and all the time. God is good. I know he's good, but you ain't good. Your life's broke right now. You might want to tell somebody. And Naomi is kind of right down the middle. There are these moments where she's like, I'm going home to be with the Lord. Then there's these other moments where she's kind of all over the place. But her authentic walk with her God is evidence that he is more than enough in her life. The second thing is Ruth shows this incredible amount of faith. Ruth shows this Abraham-like faith.

Ruth, a Moabite girl, says to an Israel-like woman, I'm going to move home with you. And just to understand this. The Moabites were severely looked down. on in Israel. I mean, I mean, this, you want to talk about an intense amount of racism. That is what she is moving into. And yet Ruth believes life with God in a place where she would be mistreated would be better than life without God in a place where everything would be set up for her.

It's very similar to John chapter 21, I mean, yeah, John chapter 21, when Jesus sees Peter on the Sea of Galilee post-resurrection. and he asked Peter three times, do you love me, do you love me, do you love me? And Peter says, you know all things, you know that I love you. And he says, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. And then he says to Peter, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted to go, but when you were old, others will dress you and you will stretch out your hands.

And Jesus tells Peter this to predict what kind of death he would die. He would be crucified upside down. And then after that, he says, and follow me. What Jesus is saying is, it would be better for you to follow me and to an excruciating painful death on a cross upside down, but to die with me than it would to live a cushy life for the rest of your days without me.

This is what Ruth knows, that I am going to go and be with God and be with His people. The third thing I see here is this. This is one I want to hang out on for a little bit. One of God's promises in pain is that you don't have to do it alone. One of God's promises when you find yourself an immense amount of pain.

When you find yourself in what feels like a situation where you don't know what to do, a part of God's grace in your life is community. Is community. Whatever you do, don't do this life alone. In Matthew chapter 28, when Jesus sends us on the Great Commission, at the end of it, he gives this promise, and lo, I will be with you always, even to the ends of the age.

I think that means at least two things. One is he's going to give us the deposit of the Holy Spirit, therefore we will never be alone because God is not just with us, he's in us. So we can quit praying that dumb prayer, dear God, thanks for the day, and just be with us today. And he's like, actually, I'm better than with you. I'm in you, so shut up and get on with it, okay? But not only that, that any time we gather together with other believers, that he is with us in the other believers, that community is God's grace upon us.

You see, because the reality is we do have an enemy that wants to steal, kill, kill, and destroy you and the Bible says that he prows around like a roaring lion seeking one to devour. You know which one the lion always devours? I mean, come on, you see an animal planet, right? When they zoom in on the lion, sneak it around in the grass, and then there's a whole bunch of little impala over here, and then there's that one little three-legged impala over there by itself, guess what's happening to Eileen over here? She gone.

She's limping along, and what does he do? he comes after that gimpy one on the side. And historically, here's what the church has done. Anybody with a hurt, with a hang up, with a bruise, with sin, with evidence in their life that they actually needed a savior. Historically, for hundreds of years recently in American history, the church gathers together and goes, no, we're not for you. And the enemy always picks out the isolators.

You know what this church is all about? We are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. We understand that there's an enemy that wants to steal, kill, and destroy. he is on the prowl like a roaring line. And so the reason this thing is a big island of Misfit Toys is because if you're beat up, battered, and bruised, we say, come on here, get in the middle. Get right here in the center of the herd and we'll protect you while you heal up. Did you know, this Saturday we had 90 people sign their name on a dotted line to say,

hey, I want to be a covenant member, a covenant member of this church. I dare you to figure out when the next one is and sign up. And don't wait till your life together, why don't you sign up when you're in the biggest point of need and say, the most jacked up I've ever been in my life, can I be a covenant member? We'll go, yeah, you're perfectly set up to come and make a covenant with this church to be a movement for all people to discover in deep in a relationship with Jesus Christ. And then some of you're like, I'm doing just fine, I'm doing great. Perfect, you egomaniac.

We need you to be in the herd to help protect the people that are in pain right now. Because guess what? Your day is coming. One of the promises of Jesus, we love the good ones, don't we? About a purpose and a plan. How about this promise? In this world, you will find troubles of many kind. So if you're doing great now, praise God.

You're one day closer for the wheels falling off. And it's one of God's promises in pain is you don't have to do it long. that here's a community of faith that can do this thing with you. And then the fourth thing I see here is this, that only a sovereign God could use the bad leadership of a limelik, hey, let's just go take care of our temporary wants and needs, the pain of these three widows, and even the forbidden friendship of these women

to literally save the world. Spoiler alert, Ruth is like the great, great, great, great, great, great grandma of Jesus. that only a sovereign, an almighty sovereign God could take a train wreck. I mean, Springer's got nothing on these kind of Bible stories. You understand? And yet the Bible teaches us that God works in all things for the good of those that love him are called according to his purpose. That God works in all things, in all things.

And God is working in this situation. even though in the first section of the book of Ruth, Ruth and Naomi, they have no idea what lays in store for them. They have no idea. And neither do we. Neither do we. So here's the point. Sometimes we suffer pain because of us. I love you too much, not to lie to you, okay?

Sometimes we suffer pain because of us. I have multiple people come to me and say, Pastor, the enemy is really attacking me. Okay, what's going on? And you tell me your story, I'm like, no, I don't think that's the enemy, hoss. I think the enemy checked in on your life and went, you know what, you're killing you just fine. I'm going to work on the rest of the world, all right? You're killing you fine. There's a lot of times we endure pain because of self-inflicted wounds.

I mean, you endure, because you drank too much. You're dumb with money. You were unfaithful, and it's self-inflicted wound. And if that's you, I've got some incredible news for you. Jesus Christ died on the cross for you too. Hear the words, Father, forgive them. I swear, I believe these words are meant also for the person enduring pain because of a self-afflicted wound. Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing.

And the cross will cover your sin too. And sometimes we are in places of pain and suffering because of us. It's self-inflicted. And sometimes it is because of the enemy. for whatever reason, man, for whatever reason, the Lord for this season of his story is allowing the enemy to prowl around like a roaring lion. And sometimes, I mean, read the first chapter of Job.

It will freak you out. The devil goes to God on some kind of weird cosmic conference call and says, can I take Job out? And God goes, all right, uh-oh. But know this, that he is prowling around like a roaring lion, but God has him on a leash. And one day he's going to jerk that thing and sit the enemy down, dig a big eternal pit, and cast him into it forever and ever and ever.

But until then, sometimes we suffer pain because of us and sometimes because of the enemy. But it's always under the sovereign hand of God. Always. But God is always good and he always has a purpose and he always has a promise. And even if you don't feel that when you're in the pain, you need to tell yourself the truth of the scriptures

so that hopefully over time, maybe not overnight, that your feelings will catch up with the truth of who God is. That sometimes we suffer pain because of us and sometimes we suffer pain because of the enemy, but it's always under the sovereign hand of God, and God is always good, he always has a purpose and he always has a promise. Which means this, if you are in Christ,

then no, God never waste a hurt. That he never waste a hurt. that if we suffer as a Christian, it is never meaningless. That we have what I would call a sanctified suffering in the hands of an almighty God. And honestly, sometimes, man, sometimes he allows us in our own lifetime to see his purpose and his promise in our suffering. There's a family here on Thursday night. They have a daughter in the family that went through. An immense amount of pain.

Some very awful things happened to her at the hands of some evil people. And yet, in a couple of years, God used that incredibly painful event to draw that entire family unto Jesus. And now they are all walking with Jesus. And it didn't make any of the pain feel any better. And yet, they were allowed to see the purpose and the promise. And sometimes he shows us that. I mean, for those of you to know, that's what this brace is. that is all about.

And yet sometimes, God never allows us to see it on this side of heaven. But he always has a purpose and a promise. The purpose is his glory. The promise is that one day Jesus will make all things new. The purpose is his glory, and the promise is one day Jesus will make all things new. He'll wipe away every tear of the eye of the believer. And when we get to heaven, nobody will walk with a swagger or a limp. And you see, our Savior, not our circumstances define who we are, because we believe that he's still got the whole world in his hands.

C.S. Lewis said it this way. He said, God whispers in our pleasures. He speaks in our conscience, but he shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to rouse the deaf world. The Apostle Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. honestly man as you're looking for if you're looking in the scripture for cross references in regards to pain the hardest part is figuring out what to leave out it's like the majority of the scriptures speak of it the apostle paul is an authority on what it's like to suffer and what it's like to live in in pain i'm not saying that i am an authority but he is and i wish i had time to start in second corinthians four seven He talks about the fragility of our life and the incredible treasure that we have. But he gets to this point in verse 16 of 2nd Corinthians 4, and Paul says,

So, we do not lose heart. So, because God is in charge and our circumstances are chaotic, so don't lose heart. Which is important because the Bible says things like in the book of Proverbs, the Bible says, hope deferred makes the heart sick. the Bible says above all else guard your heart because it's the wellspring of life and what Paul knows because he's not only influenced or inspired by the Holy Spirit but he also knows from his own personal experience when he was shipwreck when he was beaten when he was stone that means thrown rocks were thrown at him when he was whipped he's like I get it you could look at your current circumstances and go God what is the point of this

and you could lose heart. And he's saying, so don't lose heart. So we do not lose heart. How do you do that, Paul? Though our outer self is wasting away. You know what he's saying? He's like, you're getting old. And it ain't getting better.

You know this. Everybody over 40 knows this. And if you're 20 and all flexible and lean and eat ice cream late, God bless your ministry, all right? It's coming for you, too. There's been a major shift in my life, man, 43. and you know when they do like football commercials is how you know you're getting old when you're young and fun

and you watch a football game and they hit somebody and they're like boom and you're like whoa look at that and when you're my age and they hit somebody you're like oh my gosh it would hurt so bad because we're wasting away and he goes though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day so Paul saying yeah your circumstances are crazy but there's a way to be renewed

day by day, here's how you do it. For this light and momentary affliction. How do you say that, Paul? Naomi just lost her husband and both her sons. How could you look at her and say it's light and momentary only in light of eternity? And here's what it says, for this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. So it doesn't feel light and momentary in and of itself, but what you have to understand is because God is sovereign. Even though we don't understand exactly how all this works, because God is sovereign, what feels like the

heaviest, longest date of your life compared to this eternal weight of glory that God is using that suffering to prepare you for that suffering will feel just like

a second in your memory compared to what he has in store for you, which means this, that no suffering was ever meaningless because God is preparing for us a glory that is beyond all comparison. And then he gives us some advice as we look not to the things that are seen. You know what is seen? Moab, famine, funeral.

You know what is seen? An MRI, a pink slip, a bill. That's what it's seen. And if you're not careful, if you just get fixed on what it is seen, then your circumstances will rule your whole life. And we have a sovereign Savior that is greater than your circumstances. And so Paul says, so don't look at the things they're seen, but to the things that are unseen. Paul says, look at what is unseen.

And you're like, but Paul, I can't see it. He's like, I know because it's unseen. But I'm really confused. But look to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. The way he said in Colossians, he says, so fix your eyes, not of the things of this world, but fix your eyes on Jesus. author to the perfector of our faith. If you grew up going to like Sunday night Baptist Church, maybe you remember this

and turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look long in his wonderful face and the things of this world grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. So what Paul is saying is, and what Naomi is living and what Ruth is experiencing is

pain only makes sense in light of eternity where a sovereign God is ruling over all things for his glory. and he is preparing you for a weight of glory beyond your comprehension. So no pain that you've ever experienced is meaningless. Not in the hands of a sovereign, almighty God. I'm not saying that you understand everything that's going on.

Listen, when Reagan, my seven-year-old, when she was three years old, she was coming to me and she goes, I mean, she's a conniving little beautiful, wretched sinner. just walk up to me and go, I love you. I love you too, baby. Can I have skittles for breakfast? No, you can't have skittles for breakfast. But why?

Because I love you. In her mind, she asked the same question we're asking. But if you're all powerful, you're tall enough to reach the skittles off the top shelf, and if you love me, then why won't you give me what I want? And I'm saying it's actually because I love you that I'm not going to give you what you want, even though I have the ability.

to. And the gap between her three-year-old mind and my 40-year-old mind at that time, if it's this big, then the gap between our understanding and the mind of God is infinitely bigger than that. And I don't know why. None of us ever will, but I know this. I know God is good. And there's always, there's always a purpose, and there's always a promise. Long time ago. In 1873, on November the 26th. second 1122. Great tragedy hit a family, the family of Horatio Spafford. He and his family were loaded, man. They lived in Chicago. They bought up all this real estate. They loved Jesus. I think they followed the ministry of D.L. Moody, Dwight El Moody, he was like the predecessor by 100 years of Billy Graham.

And he would travel all over the world and share the gospel. And so Horatio Spafford made a plan for their family to go join Dwight El Moody in Europe to travel around with him be a part of what he was doing. And right before they were to go over on a ship, the great Chicago fire had happened a couple years before that, and it held Horatio Spafford up. He had to have some business dealing. So he put his wife, and he put his children on this ship, and they sailed over. And on November the 22nd, 1873, in the middle of a night, the French vessel that they were on was side swiped or hit head on, actually teabond by an English cargo vessel.

And his wife was the only one that survived in his family. When she made it to the other side, she wired back a message to him, and the only thing it said is this, saved alone. And he lost his little girls. And so as quick as he could in 1873 he got on the very next ship and he headed over to be with his wife who had just lost their children and the story goes that when they got to about the place of that shipwreck the captain of ship came to Horatio and said this is about where it happened and on the deck of that ship he sits down and he writes these words when peace like a river attendeth my way and when sorrows like sea billows roll.

Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. And you say, hey man, how do you say that? How can you say it is well? And he's saying, it's well with my soul. It ain't well with my family. It ain't well in my mind. It's not well in this situation.

But it's well with my soul. How? How can Naomi get to the place where she's saying, I'm going to return to the God that was in charge of, or at least allow the things that have happened to me. And the only way I know is this guy, Horatio Spafford, he knows the purpose and he knows the promise. He knows the purpose.

It's the glory of God and an eternal weight of glory that is being prepared for us, and he knows the promise that one day all things will be made new. And then the other two verses that we sing, one is about the purpose. The second verse, my sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord on my soul. He's saying it is my Savior, not my circumstances that define me. And then he goes to the promise.

I don't know if you've ever walked with people that have been through immense tragedy and loss, but man, they have a deeper understanding of the eternal than the rest of us do. And he says in the third verse, and Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight. and the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. And you say, how in the world can someone say that?

Because he understood that this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison and that we should look not at the things that are seen like a shipwreck or Moab or your situation, but to the things that are unseen, an almighty sovereign God who is good and always has a purpose and always, always, always, always has a plan. And no suffering is meaningless. And so the question is, what do you do if you find yourself in this kind of situation? And let me just encourage you, don't compare your pain to somebody else.

It never does you any good. Man, we're supposed to travel tomorrow to go to Texas for me to preach the gospel to a bunch of teenagers and I was taking the whole family and my little seven-year-old wakes up with a fever today. Now, as a fever, the biggest deal in the world, compared to a shipwreck, absolutely not. But it's the biggest deal in her world right now. And so between one of these services,

I'm going to run home with the anointing oil because I'm going to melder at our church and we're going to do what the book says, an an anointer and pray that she would be healed. And what about you? What are you going through? What's that thing in your life where you just went here? Why, God? Why? Why is this happening?

I don't know what you do. Well, James, the brother of Jesus, gives us very specific instructions on what to do. Five, he says this, is anyone among you suffering? We spent 50 minutes talking about it. Is anyone among you suffering? Then let him pray. Is anyone among you cheerful? Praise God.

Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? This could be physically sick or emotionally sick, relationally sick. This could be heart sick. is anyone among you sick then let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord

and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the prayer of a righteous person

has great power that's working and remember last week we talked about being righteous does not mean perfect it means that you were right with God. And then we talked about it last week. Elijah was a man just like us, and he prayed. He made it stop raining for three and a half years. So what are you doing when you're sick?

What are you doing when you're suffering? What do you do when you find yourself in a foreign land with seemingly no hope? Well, a part of God's blessing is that you don't have to do this thing along. And what the church is called to do is to come together and pray. And so in just a second, what we're going to do, we've invited a whole bunch of prayers to be standing down front and we've all got oil. And listen, man, if you grew up Southern Baptist, I know this is going to freak you out. I get it.

Because the only thing you've anointed is your biscuits with gravy for a bunch of years. I get it, man. The first time we did it, I was like, it's kind of weird. But honestly, man, it's just what we were by the book, people. That's what the book says to do. So this is what we're going to do. And you're just going to come forward and there's some people that want to pray for you. And just a second, I'm going to pray.

and as I am praying at all of our locations, all of our prayers and anointers are going to move forward and get in place. And then when I say amen, the campus pastors at each location will give the instruction. So let me pray for us. Our good and grace is Heavenly Father. God, we love you because you love us first. And Lord, I thank you that your love for us is not determined by our current circumstances, but your love for us was demonstrated at the cross.

That we know once and for all you love us, because Christ died for us while we were yet still sinners. And that settles the point. And that a very bad thing happened to the only good person. And that turned out as part of your provision for your glory and your plan for us to know you. And so, God, we bring to you our current pain, our current sickness, our current suffering. And Lord, we just want to do what the book says. We want to gather together as your body to pray for the sick, to pray for the suffering,

to pray for anyone in need, to claim that by his stripes, we are healed. We do this in Jesus' name. Amen.