Northside Church - Sydney
Superheroes: Life Lessons from the OT Week 2: Sarah
We're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. Well everybody does it, it varies as to how we do it, but everybody has a little snigger that we express to show that we're doubtful about something, that we've got some reservations about something, that we might be a little cynical about something, it varies from person to person. It's the kind of thing that happens when you get a letter from a telephone company or from a bank and they're telling you they're increasing their fees and changing their conditions and they say, "This is actually designed to make things better for you," and we go, "You're right, that's it, the snigger, see, that's one of my sniggers, I've got various types of sniggers, that's one of them," or in that same letter they'll say, "These changes, these increases are actually in response to consumer demand." And we go, "Yeah, right," and we receive a letter like that, I think it's me, it's those sort of letters, you know, like unbelievable. Or a politician before an election makes a promise that's so outrageous and you know, "No, I don't think so," you know, "Come on." Or a friend says, who's known for their unreliability, says, "I'm going to be there on time, you wait, wait and see, I'm going to be there," and you go, "Yeah, right." Now it's a natural response, actually we're doing it a lot more these days because there's a lot more what's called "spin" around the place these days, if you notice that, this is new term in the media, "spin," I mean it wasn't something when spin was a word that it was used exclusively in relation to washing machines or as somebody who reminds us spin bowling or a little toy used to get the kids, do you see those toys where you pump them up, you know, and they spin tops, you know, spinning tops or we used to play a game where you'd blindfold somebody and spin them around and then see what happened, a great game long you weren't wearing the blindfold, you know, it was pretty scary if you were doing that. But spin is now taken on a whole new meaning, today the word is used to describe information, how information can be given in a way that's deceptive, manipulative, even coercive, you try to get people to believe something that may not be entirely true. And so most of us have developed a way of detecting spin and responding to spin and it's usually with a, kind of, right, now it's okay to do that with a letter from a bank or a telephone company or even a response to a politician's promise or a friend. But would anybody as the people of God, would any of us do that in response to the promises of God, right, well, one person did and she's in our reading and you heard it just read a moment ago by James, that's, I'm talking Sarah, Abraham's wife, now she's 90 years old in this reading, 24 years have passed since her and her husband had a miraculous encounter with God where God said that Abraham would be the father of a great nation, said you watch Sarah's going to have a baby, you're going to be the father of an incredible nation. The number of citizens will be such that it'll be like comparing them to the grains of sand on the beach. That's how big this nation of Israel is going to be, 24 years ago. But nothing had happened, nothing in relation to babies. And here she was in this scene and she's eavesdropping on a conversation between Abraham and three mysterious strangers, he just suddenly rolled up, one of whom turns out to be the Lord himself. And I was saying the first service, if you're old enough to remember the film The Bible, who saw the Bible, back in the 70s, trying to get a guy who was the key actor and it traces this story. And the way those three strains is up for trade, just faceless men behind these woods, very, very moving, it's an exciting scene. And you might like to check that out on the DVD, The Bible, fantastic. Now these mystery men arrive and she overhears the Lord, say in verse 10, "I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah, your wife will have a son." And Sarah's immediate response is to go, "Right, I've heard this before." And here it is in verse 12, look at it, it's fantastic. So Sarah laughed to herself and she thought, "After I'm worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure of being a mum?" This thing I've looked forward to for so long. Here's the thing I love. God picks up on it and he asks, "Saverham, why did Sarah laugh?" And Sarah says, "Oh, I didn't laugh." And God says, "Yes, she did, you laugh, sorry." And look, we've got to make a lot of this because there's not a lot of humour in the Old Testament, okay? It's not exactly now for a stand-up routine. So when you're dropping something like this, it's worth having a little laugh. And it's reminiscent of that school of a sin in primary school, you know, where a class member, you know, some unmentionable noise comes from their vicinity and you go, "He says, 'You laugh.' No, yes, you did, so you." And this is sort of God, a little bit of an interaction here with Sarah. Now friends, here's a woman who's about to embark on a very steep learning curve in her relationship to God, arising out of this incident. And the first life lesson for Sarah, which we can identify with, is this, here it is. Honesty is not the best policy with God, it's the only policy. It is the only policy with God. I mean, it was understandable that Sarah would try to mask, try to conceal her doubts. After all, she was a woman of God. She was a wife of Abraham, the great man of God. I mean, what would people, little of God, what would they think if they, if they knew she had doubts, if they knew she was capable of a little snigger in response to one of God's promises. But what's the outcome? This God withdraw the promises of a case, sister. If that's how you feel, I'm going to give this blessing to somebody else. If that's, you're going to be smart about it, we'll, we'll move along. Is that what happens? No. You're a puka for having a little snigger? No. Yes, he does push it for honesty, you know, he did laugh, I saw it, yeah. But then he restates the promise in verse 14, restates it. As if to say, look, I'll show you, oh, I'm not kidding, oh, you're going to have a baby girl. Not a baby girl, oh, you, you, I can have a baby girl, let's get that right. Look, we serve, look, we serve, we're in relationship with a, an all seeing, all knowing, you know, all powerful God, and he wants us to be totally transparent in every area of our lives. There's no need to hide from God. You've got lingering doubts, tell him about it. You've got areas of uncertainty, tell him about it. You're frustrated with unanswered prayer, tell him about it. Like, he's, he's not going to rebuke you, he understands. He's Sarah, a classic example. Now, here's the second life lesson, and it can best be summoned up, brother, in a saying that's been around for a while, it's been around for quite a while this saying. Here it is, God's delays are not God's denials, God's delays are not necessarily God's denials. Now, I asked the question, do I need to even have to unpack this? I mean, it's so self-explanatory, there would, I've been to say there wouldn't be a person here this morning listening to me who hasn't proven the truth of this statement in your own life. I mean, I mean, it's a huge part of our walk with God, our walk of faith, the fact that more often than not, God seems to move at a slower pace than we would like. This seems to be his nature in so many areas, and of course, sometimes we look back, we look back and we say, oh, wow, now I see why my prayer wasn't answered then because I wasn't ready to receive that answer. Well, we look back and we see how other factors came into the equation and we think, oh, okay, that's changed the whole scene, God, you must have the big picture. Thank you for your sovereignty in, in that way. And of course, sometimes, sometimes we experience what Paul experienced and that was that, you know, God said, well, look, you know, the problem is not going to be removed, but my grace is going to be sufficient for you. You get stronger as you press into me. Friends, I guess ultimately, in our journey with God, it's a matter of trust, isn't it? It's a matter of trust that his will is unfolding and with the prayers of being answered quickly or slowly, it's part of his plan. If we sort of hang him with him, we're going to get the strength and the courage and the faith to get through. That's the experience I know of so many of you. Well, the next life lesson from Sarah is expressed via a kind of slogan, which I use at the end of a message earlier this year, or might have even been late last year. I originally heard it from Nick Vassusic, Vassusic, Nick Vassusic, whatever, you know, he's the guy who, he's been on 60 minutes, he's been featured in much of a media. He is Australian, lives in America. He is totally limbless. Do we know Nick, you know, no arms, no legs, he just has a little sort of a little sort of a part of a foot and a little toe and that's like he is an amazing guy. Great Christian inspires people all over the world with his strong message of faith in Jesus Christ. And so I think the potency of this saying lies in the fact that it's Nick Vassusic, Vassusic, the Nick Vassusic, who actually states it, against the backdrop of all that's gone wrong for him. What Nick has said, if you don't receive a miracle, become a miracle. If you don't receive a miracle, become a miracle, that's just so powerful. Look, I happen to believe Sarah is an amazing personification of this statement. You see, there's a sense in which I'm more inspired by what happened to Sarah in the first 90 years of her life than I am by what happened to her at 90. Now, now does that sound irreverent? I don't want it to because I'm through what happened to it 90, I know, being told, I was going to have a baby. I mean, that's amazing, that's one of those moments, yeah. It's incredible. She'd be the only person in history who paid for her pediatrician's fee out of her old age pension. Get your head around that. I mean, it's an amazing miracle. It's incredible. But look, I'm thinking about all the years prior to this event, okay, 90 years. All the years during which Sarah had to cope with shame, the stigma, the social ostracism, and the utter despair of being childless, 90 years. You see, friends, today it's a terrible tragedy. It's a heart-rending thing when young couples can't conceive. And at any one time, we're on the ministry team and the partial team, we're helping couples in this church right now through that process. It's this heart-rending when there's such a desire to have children and nothing's happening. You see, in the ancient world, we're male domination and misogyny, oh, there's that word. There's things that pop up everywhere, misogyny. I came back from France to all the references to misogyny. And it's been interesting kind of getting your head around all that. Well, in those days when that was the dominant feature of the culture, it was always considered to be the woman's fault. Like no question, it was the woman's fault that conception wasn't taking place. And her inability to conceive brought dishonor to the family because there'd be no air, and because the chances of the couple being looked after in their later years was severely eroded. So it was a big deal. It was a terrible stigma attached to what the Bible often refers to as barrenness. And there was today, there's a big stigma attached to barrenness today in some religions, in some part of the world where they haven't progressed from the dark ages yet, and it's still a problem. But through all those years, Sarah's faith in God never wavered. She took on board the taunts, the criticisms, the hurtful remarks, and she never gave up on God. And then in her sixties, when God reveals to her that she's going to become a mum and be the mother of a great nation and she gets all excited, and then nothing happens, still nothing happens. And if they were around today, this would have meant going to endless numbers of specialists, reading every book possible on fertility, listening to friends, giving advice, some of which is helpful, some of which is not, maybe going to a Benny Hinn rally, you know. So all of that would have been their experience. So where do we find this most gracious dignified lady at 90? She's still journing faithfully with God. She's still going about the daily routines of life full of faith and trust. She's still in the presence of God, along with her husband. She's still worshiping, praising, believing at 90. After all that's gone on, now friends, there's a miracle. That's a miracle. I mean, that's inspiring. If you can't get a miracle, be a miracle. And Sarah was just that, a walking miracle, because she continued on a journey with God despite profound disappointment and heartache. Now that's the industrial strength faith that we so often talk about here at Northside, which so many of you have, we praise God for that. Okay, here's the final point for today. How we respond to the Sarah moments of life will largely determine the level of stability and endurance in our walk with God. How we respond to the Sarah moments of life. You see, the Sarah moment is when we have to deal with our doubts. A Sarah moment is when we have to deal with unanswered prayer. A Sarah moment is when some unexpected illness comes upon us, and despite all the praying in the world, nothing seems to be making a difference. That's a Sarah moment. A Sarah moment can extend over months and years, it involves waiting, longing, hoping. A Sarah moment is when we are faced with the same question that was posed to Sarah. And I wish I put this up on the screen, but I didn't. It's in verse 14. Look at this. Here's the verse. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Sarah, you're going to have a baby. Right. What a minute? What's that sneagering? What? What's out of here? You're going to have a baby, okay? I saw you laugh, it's going to happen. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Now most upright Christians, and we've got many of them here this morning, strong people in the faith, most Christians have no trouble answering, no, no, of course not, Lord. But as it applies to others, no, Lord, there is nothing too hard for you. I believe you can do anything for them, for him, for her, but what about for us? Is there anything too hard for the Lord in response to my prayers, in response to my dream, my hopes, my aspirations? Now friends, let me say this, a strong, mature in the faith person should be able to answer passionately and enthusiastically no to that question. No Lord, there is nothing that is not possible for you, but these same people, it's pretty much all of us here this morning, or many of us, we have to also answer a question. Which also requires a no answer. But this no answer is not born out of wild, unbridled, passion and enthusiasm. This no answer is born out of pain. This no answer is born out of suffering. This no answer sometimes is born out of uncertainty, but I'll tell you what, it's born out of reality. It's born out of reality. And here's the question, does God take every too hard thing in our lives, and automatically irrefutably miraculously solve it, rectify it, heal it, does he do that, automatically? Of course the answer to that question is, no, he doesn't. For whatever reason, he doesn't operate like that in every situation, and I'd like to put it to us, that that's the tension that we operate in our Christian lives every day. Is anything too hard for the Lord? No. Does he take everything that's too hard and solve it and heal it and rectify it? No. We operate between those two extremes throughout our Christian journey. For the first 90 years of her life, Sarah lived in the shadow of question number two. Things weren't happening in that important area of conception for this dear lady. At 90 years of age, she started to experience in an incredible way the joy, the exhilaration of basking in the radiance of a yes answer to the first question. Is anything too hard for the Lord? No, you're going to have a baby, wow. These questions represent the two extremes we have to manage by faith as we journey with God. Now friends, of course we have a huge advantage over Sarah, a huge advantage because we are recipients of the love, the grace, the power, the strength of the resurrected Christ through the Holy Spirit. Didn't have that. It was 100 years before the time of Jesus. Now I could bring a stack of scripture verses to bear on this point, this whole thing of the two extremes. You get what I'm saying. Our time has gone. I just want to leave you with one statement that I did use at the end of another message. I know. I got the feedback. It was a great encouragement to a lot of people. That's a trouble with some things. You kind of use it once and then half the congregation aren't here, they don't hear it. If you didn't hear it on the radio, then you didn't hear it. Here it is. When you can't trace the hand of God, trust the heart of God. When you're living in the shadow of question number two and things aren't happening, don't be tempted to think this is God sort of meeting out some kind of punishment for you for past the end or he's teaching you a bit of a lesson, I'm snacking you over there a little bit. His desire is that we grow, is that we're blessed, is that we get through each day in the knowledge that he will never leave us or forsake us. He's not a vindictive, nasty God, like we might be tempted to be in light of our waywardness. If you can't trace the hand of God, trust the heart of God. Friends, I would put it to us, that got Sarah through 90 years of life. And you can't draw the conclusion, oh, if you're just sort of hanging long enough, then everything will be answered and you'll get the heart, I mean, that's not how it works, are they? For her it was a blessing for a particular reason, but we can't draw that conclusion. Sometimes the Christian life is just a tough life of hanging in, in the belief that nothing can separate us from the love of God, in the belief that he will never leave us or forsake us. We don't have to keep you going. Most days it's enough to keep me going. And that's the faith we share and celebrate. Work between those two extremes, may God give us the courage to walk between those two extremes this week. Learn from Sarah, re-read her story. Don't be afraid of the snigger, but don't let the snigger destroy your faith as it has kept us so many, stay strong, in the belief that God walks with us through the good times and the not so good times.