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The Message for March 22, 2015
Shattered Dreams – Plan B: Week 5
John 12:20-33
Rob Miller, Pastor
Video: We Say, God Says
That video says it all. Who are you going to listen to when your dreams are shattered?
Today we wrap up our Shattered Dreams - Plan B series. Over the last five weeks we’ve considered some difficult questions.
- What do we do with our shattered dreams?
- What do we do with unmet expectations?
- What do we do when God doesn’t show up the way we thought God should show up?
We all experience shattered dreams – we all had to go with Plan B at times.
When Frank,a friend of mine in PA, would encounterproblemsor troubles of any kind, he would say, “Problems are simply potholes on the road of life and you can’t avoid them. You have to deal with them.” How true!
* What do you do when your marriage falls apart?
* What do you do when your kids go off the deep end?
* What do you do when you find out your dying of cancer?
* What do you do when you lose a loved one?
* What do you do when you get fired?
* What do you do when a close friend betrays you?
* What do you do when your house floods and you lose everything?
We turn to Plan B. I have 7 thoughts for you to consider here this morning.
First thought
Christianity doesn’t have all the answer. Some people think that when you become a Christian you will have all the answers to life’s difficulties. That’s not so.
Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean we know how to respond to everything that comes our way. We don’t have all the answers to life’s problems.
In John 16, Jesus said, “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will face trouble. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”
Two key words in that verse – in me. Jesus didn’t say that life would be smooth sailing just because you’re in church, or just because you read the Bible, or pray, or participate in a Small Group. Jesus said – in me. When you rest in Jesus -- that is where we find peace.
This world is not a peaceful place. We need the peace that Jesus offers. In this world we will encounter trouble. Sometimes we bring that trouble on ourselves and sometimestrouble is thrown upon us. When it comes to trouble--we are heading out of it, are in the middle of it, or heading into it…
We are not talking about losing your keys, or forgetting to pick up milk or bread at the store. We talking about the kind of trouble that makes you wonder if there really is a God. The kind of trouble that causesus to wonder, shouldIbelieve in Jesus anymore. We’re talking about big troubles – life changing troubles – when the world seems to be falling apart kind of trouble.
Notice Jesus says…“Take heart for I have conquered the world.” In other words no matter what happens to us Jesus has conquered it – Jesus has already overcome it.
Second thought
We are not exempt from trouble. But with confidence in Jesus that hehas overcome the world -- we find hope to face our shattered dreams our Plan B’s.
This is where the cross comes in. The cross of Christ is our anchor when our world gets rocked.
In the book of Hebrews 6:19 we read… “We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…”
The cross is an anchor for the soul. In a world that is so unpredictable we need an anchor. Change is the only constant in the world. We need an anchor of hope in this ever-changing world.
Third thought
The cross reminds us of three things:
- God loves us
Some people believe thattroubling timesmeans God must not love them. Not true. If we onlyfocus on our troubling situation and define God through that situation then we tend to conclude that God is not there. That God is dead…
But the cross reminds us that there are no limits to what God can do and will do. The cross reminds that God love us.
When a child gets hurt, he or she wants mom or dad. In our house they usually want mom. They don’t want us to take the pain away. They just need to hear us say, “It’s o.k. You’re going to be o.k. I’m here. I love you.”
When life is being rocked by this broken world, the cross is our reminder that God can and will redeems us and our situation. God’s love supersedes whatever trouble,or shattered dream, or Plan B we might be going through.
The second reminderfrom the cross is this:
- God allows freedom but remains in control.
I’m sure to those who watched Jesus being crucified – felt like things were out of control. Jesus, the son of God, was abused, his clothes gambled away, and passer byes made fun of him. If we had been there we would had thought the situation out of control. And yet God was not absent. God was not out of control.
You may be in a situation right now that feels like things are out of control. That God is absent. That you’re dealing with a shattered dream of your own.
The cross reminds us that we live in a broken world but God is still in control. We can depend on God who specializes in death and resurrections, a God who brings hope to the hopeless, a God who is a father to the fatherless, a God who was willing to go to extremes for us.
I’ve come to realize that that there is a big difference between trust and understanding. Trust is what we need most when we don’t understand.
The third reminder from the cross is this:
- God can use our worst to create something beautiful.
I wonder if some people want their dreams to come true more than they want God. I wonder if maybe we want what God can do for us instead of just wanting to be with God.
Spiritual maturity is when we can say, "I am blessed to be a blessing to others. And if God doesn’t give me anything else, I still owe God all the thanks and praise.”
God has a perspective on life that we don’t have. It’s a like looking a weaving from the underside. It’s all full of knots and doesn’t have much of a design. But look at it from the other side and it reveals a beautiful image. From our perspective looking up we see the underside of the weaving. But from God’s perspective God sees the full picture.
If we had been there when Jesus was crucified -- seeing our Lord and Savior dying on a cross --that would have been the worst thing that could ever happen. Today we don’t see it that way. We have a couple thousand years of reflection. We see the cross as the most beautiful thing we could have. A reflection of God’s love.
God takes the worse things in life and turns them into something good. That’s what God did with the cross.
Fourth thought
My greatest concern for my life and yours is that we’ll get busy and distracted and settle for a mediocre, unexamined life. We tend to settle into life as usual and never become the person God intended for us to be.
If a I have a dollar for every person who said to me. “Pastor I’ve done my share of work in the church. It’s time to let others do it.” If you are alive and breathing God still has kingdom work for you to do in and through the church. God isn’t finished with you yet. Thank God for that.
I am not saying that weneed tragedies in order for God to transform us. No… But tragedies, problems, troubles often open the door for transformation and spiritual growth to happen. When I’m struggling with a shattered dream -- I tend to I pray more, read the bible more, and lean on Jesus more.
I was driving along yesterday thinking about a certain situation in my life – a shattered dream that is staring me in the face right now. So I prayed, “Lord I need…” Then I stopped… “Lord, you know what I need… help me through this situation. Help me grow through this shattered dream and into the person you see in me…” Suddenly my shattered dream didn’t seem as shattered after I prayed that prayer.
Pastor Peter Scazzero started and is serving a multi-ethnic church in Queens, NY. He writes,
Our culture routinely interprets losses as alien invasions that interrupt our “normal” lives. We numb our pain through denial, blaming, rationalizations, addictions, and avoidance. We search for spiritual shortcuts around our wounds. We demand others take away our pain. Yet we all face many deaths within our lives. The choice is whether these deaths will be terminal (crushing our spirit and life) or open us up to new possibilities and depths of transformation in Christ.
Point is… there is no shattered dreamso devastating that God can’t redeem. God can. There is no pain we experience that God cannot comprehend. God can. God understands the betrayal and loss we feel. God understands the hurt and humiliation we experience. God understands the disappointment and discouragement we encounter. Godcan.
Fifth thought
Have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe, God is using your current situation to form something beautiful inside of you? The Shattered Dream that you struggle with - might just be an invitation to rest deeper in God’s transforming presence.
Staples has what they call an “easy button.” Hit the button and your problems are solved…
I wonder if some people think the church has a button like that -- an “easy button” for broken dreams,for unmetexpectations, for dealing with our troubles.
We’ve created a culture that looks for shortcuts. We are uncomfortable with things that are broken. We like our problems solved – fast and easy.
I walked into Home Depot yesterday. Got what I needed from off the shelf, went through the self-checkout and then walked out the door. I didn’t speak to anyone and I didn’t make eye contact with anyone. That’s the kind of world we live in. You can go online, order anything in the world and have it delivered to your door and you never speak or connect with anyone. No wonder we don’t know how to relate to one another.
No wonder we have insecurities problems.
People who scare me the most are those who are dead certain about anything and everything. People who claim to have all the answers no matter what the problem is. Do you know someone like that?
I’ve learned that people who have all the answers tend to be insecure people. Sometimes the church isn’t much help either – especially when we hurry people through a crisis because their problem makes us uncomfortable. We all have our insecurities.
When people share their shattered dreams with me, I thank them for sharing. Then I ask myself this question. What does this person need that I can give them? Most of the time, they don’t needanything except my listening ears. Ministry of presence…
I believe that sometimes Godsimply offers us a listening earand not a solutionas we share ourshattered dreams with God in prayer.
Sixth thought
Sometimes in the middle of our darkness, in the middle of our crisis, in the middle of our Plan B struggles, God speaks most clearly to us. If we are open to it.
If we are open to it. Some of us suffer from what is called “selective listening.” We hear what we want to hear… Men are better at this than women are by the way. We need to be open to what God has to say…
Seventh thought
Sometimes instead of an answer, God offers us something better. God offers us the cross. And the cross offers us hope.
Henri Nouwen writes:
Jesus’ life and death is truly Good News because it reveals to us how all the events of our lives and even such dark events as war, famine and flood, violence and murder are not irreversible fatalities. Each moment is like a seed that carries within itself the possibility of becoming the moment of change.
We have hope because there is a cross. Through the cross of Christ God says,I love you, God says there is freedom but I am in control,God says,I can use your worst for eternal good.
Someday love will replace hate.
Someday peace will replace war.
Someday light will replace darkness.
Someday life will replace death.
And someday dreams will come true.
God is at work using our shattered dreams to make something beautiful happen in us and through us. So be it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.