STEPPING INTO ABUNDANT LIVING - “SANITY” AND TRUST
Matthew
5:4 (NIV)
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
GNB – Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be
comforted.
This
“mourning” must not be taken loosely for that feeling which is wrung from men
under pressure of the ills of life, nor yet strictly for sorrow on account of
committed sins. Evidently it is that entire feeling which the sense of our
spiritual poverty begets; and so the second beatitude is but the complement of
the first. The one is the intellectual, the other the emotional aspect of the
same thing. It is poverty of spirit that says, “I am undone”; and it is the
mourning which this causes that makes it break forth in the form of a
lamentation—“Woe is me! for I am undone.”
Our
attitude toward our sins (vv. 4–6). We mourn/ lament over sin and despise it. We see sin the
way God sees it and seek to treat it the way God does. Those who cover sin or
defend sin certainly have the wrong attitude. We should not only mourn over our
sins, but we should also meekly submit to God (see Luke 18:9–14; Phil. 3:1–14).
[1]
They that mourn (πενθοῦντες). Signifying grief manifested;
too deep for concealment. Hence it is often joined with κλαίειν, to weep audibly (Mark
16:10; James 4:9).[2]
Sorrow should make us look for the heart and hand of God
and so find the comfort latent in the grief.
Principle
– come to believe that God
exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me overcome the
lack of stability / unmanageability/ insanity in my life.
There are 4 parts to this principle that we need to
apply to our life circumstances: Coming
to believe….
1.
God exists, not only that but…..
2.
I matter to Him
3.
He has the power to restore me to sanity &
stability…and….
4.
He will, if I let Him…
Let’s start by defining ‘insanity’ ….
“Anything I do or think that is destructive to me
or to my relationships with other people or with God is a kind of insanity,
especially when I keep doing it month after month, year after year” ~J. Keith
Miller, A Hunger for Healing
Sanity is defined as “soundness of mind”. What
would it be like to have ‘soundness of mind’?
What are the things we do that do not reflect soundness of mind or
insanity?
Some of us use mood/ mind altering substances (alcohol,
nicotine, drugs, inappropriately used prescription meds, porn, even food, etc)
or perhaps we use controlling behaviors (manipulation, threats, avoidance). If
we do, the outcome is always predictable: more chaos
Would you put money in a bank that advertised, “your
money is as safe with us as a wave tossed back and forth”? Or.. would you be more comfortable with a
bank whose slogan read: “anchor yourself
to our bank, we have your interest at heart”? The Christian concept of trust is
not merely a wishful attitude, but a confident expectation. Waves/ storms of life arise and threaten
us. But as the anchor is cast through
the waters into a dark and unseen place and keeps the vessel from being
overwhelmed, so must our trust be focused on the invisible God.
We learned last week that Hope draws its power
from a deep trust in God!
Hope: “to
desire something with confidence of fulfillment. Positive expectation..
Sounds a lot like faith & trust doesn’t it? As we consider God restoring us.. and ‘coming
to believe’… some things are easy to believe. It is easy for many of us to
believe that God will punish us, or maybe that He is displeased with us or He
even dislikes us. What is more difficult is to believe that God is willing,
available and longs to restore us. He loves us. He is powerful but we somehow
fear He will use His power to hurt us or punish us rather than help us. These
distortions make it difficult to trust and accept His help. So… in this part of
our journey we must face those beliefs and begin the process of learning that
God is ‘for us’ and not against us. He is who He says He is in the Word.
TRUST
As
part of the act of faith by which a person establishes a saving relationship
with Jesus Christ, trust is placed in the ability of Jesus Christ to restore
the broken relationship between God and sinful man. Once Christ has been received as Lord and
Savior, the believer begins to develop the confidence and trust in God to
fulfill all the promises which Scripture makes to the maturing Christian.
Why
can we trust Him?
1. We
can trust God because He always tells the truth...
“He has
given us both his promise and his oath, two things we can completely count on,
for it is impossible for God to tell a lie.
Now all those who flee to him to save them can take new courage when
they hear such assurances from God; now they can know without doubt that he
will give them the salvation he has promised them.” Hebrews 6:18 TLB
“God will
continue to be true even when every person is false.” Romans 3:4 NCV
2. We
can trust God because He loves us...
“We know
how much God loves us because we have felt his love and because we believe him
when he tells us that he loves us dearly.
God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is
living in him. And as we live with
Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete, so we will not be ashamed and
embarrassed at the day of judgment, but can face him with confidence and joy
because he loves us and we love him too.
We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love
for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he
might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves
us. So you see, our love for him comes
as a result of his loving us first.” 1 John
4:16-19 TLB
“Many
sorrows come to the wicked, but abiding love surrounds those who trust in the
Lord.” Psalm 32:10 TLB
3. We
can trust God because He is in control...
“May the
God of peace himself make you entirely pure and devoted to God; and may your
spirit and soul and body be kept strong and blameless until that day when our
Lord Jesus Christ comes back again. God,
who called you to become his child, will do all this for you, just as he
promised.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
TLB
“We know
that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. They are the people he called, because that
was his plan.” Romans 8:28 NCV
“For I
know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not
to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
4. We
can trust God because He will help us in times of trouble...
“In
everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts
with success. Don’t be conceited, sure
of your own wisdom. Instead, trust and
reverence the Lord, and turn your back on evil; when you do that, then you will
be given renewed health and vitality.” Proverbs
3:5-6 TLB
“But
remember this - - the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything
new and different. Many others have
faced exactly the same problems before you.
And no temptation is irresistible.
You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that
you can’t stand up against it, for he has promised this and will do what he
says. He will show you how to escape
temptation’s power so that you can bear up patiently against it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 TLB
WE can trust that God has the power to help us. We
learned that in our lesson a couple of weeks ago. However… we must ‘come to
believe’ it for ourselves personally. Just like the prodigal son (see Luke
15:11-32), we have to have enough faith to begin the journey home – home to the
love, compassion and help of our Father. We don’t need some sophisticated
theology or years of Bible training to ‘come to believe’, we simply trust with
what little we have and begin the walk – the step at a time trusting in a power
greater than ourselves and believing we WILL be healed, changed, restored.
God restores…. Restores and brings freedom!
Psalm 107:13-16
New
International Version (NIV)
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them(A) from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness,(B) the utter darkness,(C)
and broke away their chains.(D)
15 Let them give thanks(E) to the Lord for his unfailing love(F)
and his wonderful deeds(G) for mankind,
16 for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron.
and he saved them(A) from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness,(B) the utter darkness,(C)
and broke away their chains.(D)
15 Let them give thanks(E) to the Lord for his unfailing love(F)
and his wonderful deeds(G) for mankind,
16 for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron.
STEPPING
INTO ABUNDANT LIVING - “SANITY” & TRUST
GROUP WORK
1.
Is mourning a reality for you
right now in your life (mourning/ lamenting over sin/ insanity in your life)? If not, do you remember a time when it was –
what / how did God bring comfort to you?
2.
There are 4 parts to this principle – which part do
you find you have the most difficulty with?
§
God exists
§
I matter to Him
§
He has the power to restore me to sanity &
stability
§
He will, if I let Him
3.
How’s your trust level in God?
What area of your life are you finding it most difficult to trust Him in?
4.
What steps will you take this
week to develop trust or step out in trust/ faith?
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