[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our
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[00:00:25] Speaker B: You know, we're in a series called Holidays, and the reason we call it that is because oftentimes that's a good description of what it's like. I read a statistic that kind of motivated us to motivate us to do this series where people surveyed said that about two thirds, in fact, said that the holidays are something they endure more than they enjoy.
And I thought about that and I thought, I don't think that's what it should be. I mean, holiday by definition, the word itself comes from the idea of a holy day. Holy day. We get holiday from Holy Day. Well, I mean, it's something that we ought to honor God through a holiday and we ought to enjoy these times of the year instead of just merely enduring them. And then I began to think about what I hear people say as the reasons why they endure them and not necessarily enjoy them. And so we began to try to break apart those responses and put it in the form of a series. So from God's word, we might be able to help you maybe navigate through this time of the year in such a way that you could kind of turn that model around and have a wonderful season instead of one. You just wait to get behind you. Right. I talked last weekend about stress being a big factor this time of the year. When you think about it, Christmas is the only holiday that has a countdown associated with it. It's just to add to the stress. There's only so many more days that you have before Christmas. She and I are competing with each other.
You win, baby. You win. Let's give that little one a hand. You're awesome. Love that, baby. I got grandbabies. I love babies.
I'm just suggesting to you that stress is a big part, well, a big part of the holidays, right? And everybody has stress. I don't know who you are or what kind of occupation you're in, but I promise you right now you could tell me that there is some stress associated with the thing that you do. So last weekend, I kind of talked about maybe some things that you could try that are biblical that would help you deal with the stress of your life, the worries that you face. This weekend, I want to take another step and talk about how to kind of maximize the moments that we have in the holidays. And in so doing, you learn how to deal with the two biggest things that affect our ability to enjoy these holidays. One of the things are just circumstances. I mean, you could just make a general category of circumstances, and that could be a lot of things. And then the second category, it would just be people dealing with some of the difficult people that come along during the holidays. And what was interesting, I've been kind of circling around this book of Philippians and this little letter of Paul's. We talked about it last week, and I want to talk a little more about it this week, because in that letter, Paul was in prison facing death. And yet with his circumstance being what they were, with the people that he's faced with in his life being who they were, Paul found a way to have joy. He found a way to have peace. He found a way to really experience the love of God. And so what that said to me, as I reread the letter and as I want to share with you this morning, that love and joy and peace, those sentiments that we often talk about during the holiday season, Chima sang about it a moment ago, those wonderful values are not predicated or dependent upon our circumstance. They're not predicated or dependent upon the people that we have in our life. Instead, it's predicated and determined by the condition of our heart. The condition of our heart. If my heart is in a good place and my mind is in a good place, and my attitude is in a good place, I can face difficult circumstances and I can deal with difficult people. But if my heart isn't in a good place, if my heart isn't healthy, then all of these things are going to impact my level of joy, my level of peace, and even the level of love that I have. And what's dangerous about that is that you can't give something you don't have any more than you can come somewhere from somewhere you've not been. So if we are wanting to lavish love on our family and we want to experience joy and peace, and we want that to be something that we have in our home, we won't have that unless we possess that. And so it's important that on this Sunday morning, we give some attention to the condition of our heart and kind of ask the hard question, am I allowing circumstances or people to affect the joy and the peace that I have in my life today? In fact, in Proverbs 423. Solomon wrote, guard your heart. Guard your heart. For out of it are all the issues of life. Everything comes out of your heart. So guard your heart. Guard your heart. Nobody else can guard your heart but you. You have to guard your heart because no one else can tell the things that will get into your heart and affect your heart. So you are responsible. I am responsible to guard my heart, because whatever comes into my heart will eventually work out into my life. The heart is the source of my speech.
Matthew 12 24 20. Yeah, that's right. Matthew 1224. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. We talk about what's in the well comes up in the bucket. So whatever is in your heart will eventually come out of your mouth.
If I'm having a bad day and I'm taking that out on other people, it's because my heart is not in a good place. So I have to check my heart. I have to make sure that my heart is healthy. I read a statistic that said at least one third of the people who attend the average church are angry about something. One third. I thought, my goodness, that's a lot. Right?
Let's do an experiment. Look at that person sitting to your left right? Now. Just look them over real quick. Now look at that person sitting to your right. Look them over. Do they look mad? Well, it might be you then. I mean, if it's one in three, you might be the one.
I don't know. I'm just saying you can't see my heart and I can't see your heart. That's why we have to guard our own hearts. That's what the idea of Solomon's message and the narrative that I want to share with you is in Philippians three. It's just three or four verses. And from this narrative I want to draw an application that I really believe is going to help us navigate through the difficult circumstances and some of the hard people that we face in life. Notice what Paul said. Philippians three, verse twelve. Not that I'd already obtained all of this or have already been made perfect. Now let me stop to say Paul acknowledges the fact that he's not fully grown. The idea of being perfect does not mean to be sinlessly perfected. It means fully mature. Paul said, I have some growth left. I have some areas of my life that I need to work on. And I want to suggest to your heart this morning that that's going to be a reality of all of our life. You're never going to be fully mature. There's always going to be some area of your life that you're going to have to work on, something in your life that's going to need to be dealt with, because we won't be made perfect until we're in the presence of God. Third, John says, beloved, it does not yet appear what we will be, but we know that when we see God, when we see him, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. The idea is, the only time I'm going to be perfectly like God is when I'm in his presence. So if sinless perfection is a goal of yours, could I suggest cut to the chase and just ask God to kill you? Because that's the only way it's going to happen.
You're just not going to be sinlessly perfect. Now, I'm not suggesting that we don't strive to do better. I'm not suggesting that we don't work on ourselves to not fail in that regard. I'm not making excuse, but I'm saying when Paul speaks of not being made perfect, he's not talking about perfection in the sense that you may think of it. He's talking about perfection in the sense of being fully mature. So I just wanted to clarify that, he said, but I press hold on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of me. It's kind of a turn of phrase, but what Paul was saying is I'm focused on understanding and comprehending what God saw in me, and God's purpose is for my life. Probably the greatest understanding you could ever gain, the greatest epiphany you could ever have is coming to terms with who God has created you to be. You are uniquely, you are wonderfully made. Psalm 133. God had a plan and a design for you. And Paul said, I have been really trying to wrap my head around God. What would you want me to do? And I'm going to strive in order to comprehend that. Verse 13. I don't consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but I'm going to strain toward what is ahead. I'm going to press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. He said, I know God has a purpose. I know he has a plan. And I'm going to live every day of my life cognizant of that and working toward fulfilling that plan of God in my life. Now, from that narrative I've read to you this morning, I want to give you three principles that I really believe will help you navigate through the circumstances and through the hard people of life. Principle number one is what I simply call get over it.
There are some things in life you're going to have to get over. There are, by the way, some people in life you're going to have to get over. If you're going to have any joy and any peace in life, you're going to have to fix what you can fix and trust God with the rest. And you cannot allow people who refuse to reconcile with you, the hard, difficult people, you can't allow them to rob you of the joy and the peace God has for you. Now I know we have a responsibility. For example, the Bible says if you bring your gift to the altar and you remember the idea is you come to worship and you remember there's someone that has something against you, a difficult person, an unreconciled relationship.
The Bible says, leave your gift at the altar. And I love that. Leave your gift at the altar. Don't take that back. Leave it. Leave your gift at the altar and then go and be reconciled to that brother or that sister. So the idea is God is in the reconciliation business. He's in the business of bringing people together. Isn't it a shame that we're going to spend eternity with some people that we won't speak to down here?
God may sit you right next door to somebody. You cannot stand down here for all eternity.
You'll be looking out your shades like you do now before you go get the paper. Every morning they out there. I don't want to have an awkward conversation, but the point I'm making is the will of God and the desire of God is to reconcile. But can I tell you this morning what you already know? Some people refuse to be reconciled. There are some people, no matter the effort you make and the prayers you pray and how hard they just will not be reconciled to you. Let me give you five different types of people that refuse help. You cannot be reconciled to them. Number one, those who don't think they need it.
You can't help anybody who just simply, they don't think they need it. I mean, step one that they tell us in recovery, step one is you have to own it, you have to acknowledge it. I mean, you can't come to Jesus and receive him until you admit you're a sinner. Why else would you need a savior? So the first step in receiving Jesus and being reconciled to God is admit you need him in your life. So I'm saying there's going to be some difficult people you face in life. That when you attempt to reconcile with them, they will not reconcile with you because they don't think they need it. They don't think they did anything wrong. They don't have anything to apologize for. All right, here's the second type. The people who know they need it, but they just don't want it. You met anybody like that? I know. I just don't want to deal with this. I'll deal with it one day. I'm not going to deal with it now. And so here you are at this impasse. You're trying to reconcile something. They know it needs to be reconciled, but they refuse to do it. Third type person, the person who doesn't want it yet.
Oh, I'll fix it down the road, and I'm just not ready to deal with this now, sooner or later. Well, there are a lot of people that procrastinate and put off even their relationship with God. And the Bible is very clear. It says now is the accepted time. Today is a day of salvation. God always puts the emphasis on the here and now. You know why? Because that's the only time we're promises right now. We're not promised tomorrow. We're not promised another opportunity. But there are people, I'm saying, when you try to reconcile with them, who know they need to be reconciled, but they don't want it. And they don't want it yet. Number four, there are people who know they need help, but they just don't want it from you.
You try to help them, but they're not going to receive that help from you. Here's the fifth type, and that's people who aren't willing to do what it takes to get help. And boy, there's a lot of people like that.
Remember I talked to you one weekend about the difference between cycles and seasons?
Seasons are periods of time in our life that will end. We'll go into a different season.
You go from one season to that. A cycle is a repeating of behaviors and it's a repeating of things that you're in control of. You can break a cycle.
You have to go through a season.
And there are people that, they just cyclically, they just go through this kind of thing with other people. They have a problem with everyone. They never see that. Maybe they're the source of it, maybe it's you.
And when you try to resolve that, they either won't hear it, they don't agree with it, they don't want the help now, they don't want the help from you, or they just simply say, I'm just not willing to do what it takes to resolve this. What do you do with that? What do you do with that?
I mean, you say, bill, I've kind of checked all those boxes with you about this certain person, our people, I have in my life. How do I do biblically? How do I deal with. Look, once you've done all you can do, once you have checked the box, you've made the effort, you've left the gift, you've gone. You've made the effort to do that. Can I tell you? You have to get over it.
You have to say, I have done biblically. Everything I can do to make this relationship right. It's not on me now. It's on them. And you can't force someone to do the right thing. You can't make someone reconcile with you. What I would tell you to do is I'd tell you do two things. I'd tell you. Number one, pray for them as often as you think about them. I would tell you to pray for them, and then I would tell you, secondly, is not obsess about it.
Just don't allow your mind to obsess on the relationship that refuses to be reconciled. Pray about it. And that will help you not obsess over it as often as you find yourself obsessing over it, begin to pray about it.
I look at the example again of the Apostle Paul in two Timothy, chapter four, and verse 14. Paul was praying and he said this. He said, alexander the Coppersmith. Now, he wanted you to know exactly who he was talking about. Not just any Alexander. Alexander the Coppersmith, he said, did me harm. And then he said, may the Lord reward him according to what he has done. Now, there's some who believe, and I kind of leaned in that direction, that what he was praying was kind of this prayer, God, would you give this guy that hurt me everything he deserves?
I don't know if that's exactly right, but it gives me some comfort. The Bible says, pray for your enemies, and in so doing, you dump coals of fire on their head. Right? In other words, God, you're basically turning it over to him. He can handle it. He'll take care of it. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I'll repay. God is really good at setting things right. So I'm saying, when you find yourself in a hostile relationship, a toxic relationship, an unreconcilable relationship, pray about it, turn it over to the Lord, and don't allow yourself to obsess on it. Paul had people who hated him he had religious people who hated him. I mean, he was falsely imprisoned over preaching Jesus, and he was facing death. People had lied about him. They had lied on him.
He had people who had broken his heart.
I mean, gosh, he had John Mark on one occasion, and John Mark was traveling with him and preaching with him. And right in the middle of this missionary campaign, John Mark just quit.
He quit.
And for the longest time, you see the apostle Paul and John Mark, they're not talking.
I mean, there is a breach in their fellowship, and it's only after a period of time that they mend the breach. And you know what happens now? This is important. They never work together again.
Paul forgave him. John Mark sought forgiveness, but Paul said, we can't work together.
There are people that will be in your circle. There are people that will be in your life that you can reconcile with them, but you may never trust them to the same level that you once did. That's okay.
That's all right. Part of being reconciled and restoring trust is not being gullible or vulnerable or being a doormat, but it's understanding that I can't allow harmful, toxic people who refuse to be reconciled to me to affect my joy and my peace. That's all I'm saying.
So there are some things, and there are some people that you just got to get over it. You got to turn it over to the Lord. You've got to give them over to God and know, I've done everything I do, and this thing just cannot. It just seems to be impossible for me to reconcile and don't obsess over it.
So sometimes it's people. Look, sometimes it's circumstances that are hard to get over.
Sometimes you've gone through something, a financial reverse.
I don't know. You've gone through a difficulty.
It's not a person as much as it's a thing. You remember in GalatIans five seven where Paul said, you did run? Well, there was a time you were a great runner, but then he said, who hindered you? Who hindered you? Who knocked you off course? Who got you out of church? Why did you quit serving? What was that experience with that person that so disillusioned you and distracted you and disappointed you that you just melded in and quit going?
Sometimes it's a who, and sometimes it's a what. Sound like Dr. Seuss, but it's a what hindered you. It's not a who, but it's a what. It's a circumstance.
And you have to sometimes get over the circumstances of life that are. Sometimes the circumstances are self made.
Paul had to learn how to forgive himself.
He had to get over past guilt.
Remember, he was probably the first terrorist in the Bible. He was killing Christians. I mean, he was putting them to death under the rule of Caesar, who was allowing him permission to do so. And God miraculously saved him on the road to Damascus and changed his life. But don't you know, in his humanity, Paul had to deal with some guilt over his past, some things that he had done.
And I'm suggesting you, sometimes that guilt of our past can set up in our heart and rob us of peace and joy. You got to get over it. We talk about this principle all the time. Once God has forgiven you, forgive yourself.
You have to get over some things. You have to let some things go. You have to let some people go. And you have to know how to navigate through that, because, again, it sets up in your heart if you don't remember the beatitude that Jesus taught in Matthew, chapter five, verse eight, where he said, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
The word pure in the Greek is Catheros. Catharas. It means uncontaminated, uncorrupted. Blessed are they whose hearts are not corrupted. Blessed are they whose hearts are not contaminated. And the Greek word Catharas, by the way, is the same word. We get the word catheter from that word, which is a medical device that can remove impurity from the body.
Your heart needs a Catharos.
Your heart needs a way to remove bitterness and anger and hurt from the body. You need a Catharas.
Jesus said, if you have a Catharos, you're blessed, you're happy, you're joyful, you're peaceful. If you don't, you aren't. And so all I'm suggesting is what happens when I attempt to reconcile and I go as far as I can, and then when that no longer is effective, I release them. I forgive them. I trust them to God, and I pray for them. It's Catharas.
It's a way of getting that out of me. Isn't it interesting that one of the definitions of the word forgive is release?
When you're not willing to forgive someone, you're holding on to them. And I think sometimes we hold people that we should be releasing because we think if we release them, they're going to get by with what they did to us. So if I could hold on to them, I'm going to make sure they pay. And all that does. Guys, is it affects you. If you make a fist and make that fist as tight as you can, before long, your hand is hurting, you refuse to unclench your fist. Before long, your arm is hurting, your shoulder is hurting. Before long, your whole body is hurting. Because you've got a clenched fist, you refuse to release.
I mean, the sign of defiance in any culture is a clenched fist, and the sign of help is an open hand.
So I'm just suggesting to your hearts that your heart sometimes needs to tether us. You need to release this. Do what you can do to be healthy, do what you can do to reconcile and get over it. Let it go. Secondly, and quickly, I've got about four minutes, so I can do this.
I can do this.
Secondly, you got to get under it. What do I mean by that? You have to get under the power and the authority of the Holy Spirit. As a child of God, you have to recognize that there's nothing that you and I will face in life that he cannot handle.
What is it that's affecting your peace this morning?
Financial, friends, circumstances, I mean, you name it. There's nothing you're facing right now that's affecting your peace that God can't handle.
I cAn't find a verse in the Bible where God ever says, go easy on me. You're asking too much of me. It's not in there.
Remember I told you last week the words of that hymn, oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. Why all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. I'm suggesting you that one of the most powerful things you have and I have at our disposal is prayer. Prayer. And one of the ways whereby guys that we really learn how to get over things is when we get under the power of God's spirit, we say, God, I can't face this without you. I can't deal with this without you. I need your strength. I need your wisdom. I need your anointing each and every day of my life. I mean, when you wake up in the morning, say, lord, you know what I'm going to face today? Give me the strength and the wisdom and the courage that I need to face the things, the people, the circumstances that I'll face today.
Get over it.
Get under it. Here's the third thought then. You get through it. You get through it. The apostle Paul got through these circumstances that were so difficult and potentially debilitating. He got through it. You know why he got through it? God never failed him. You know why? I know I can get through it. And you can get through it, because God will not fail you. He will not fail me.
So you just have this faith. I don't know how it's going to work out. I don't know how the story ends, but I know it'll end in a way that's for my good and his glory. God never had one of his kids and something happened and he went, oops, my bad.
I won't make the same mistake with the rest of your family. No. God's way is perfect. He cannot fail. You know what happened when the people began to wonder and doubt him? He said, can I provide a table in the wilderness?
I mean, when a million people going across, headed toward the promised land, I fed them every step of the way.
Can I not provide a table in the wilderness? Are you in a wilderness this morning? Can I tell you? God can provide a table. You don't have a need he can't meet.
By the way, you're not carrying a burden he can't lift.
Now, some of you carrying unnecessary burdens. You're carrying stuff you shouldn't be carrying. Remember I said, get over some things. Some of you just need to. Like he said in one Peter, four seven or five seven, cast all your care upon me, for I care for you. Some of you guys are carrying stuff God didn't design you to carry. And one of the biggest blessings you could be to yourself is through prayer, is give that burden to him.
Cast it at his feet. There's not a problem he can't solve. There's not a burden he can't lift. Thirdly, I tell you, there's not a sin that he can't forgive.
You hadn't done something that God won't forgive. I told you, there's only one sin he won't forgive. It's called the sin of my unbelief. And if I die in that condition, the Bible said, you don't go to heaven. If you reject Jesus, you don't go to heaven. It's called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The work of the Spirit is to draw people to Jesus. Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit comes in John 14, he will not speak of himself, he will speak of me. And no one comes to the Father. The Bible says, except the Spirit drawing. So the work of the Spirit is to draw people to Jesus. And when someone rejects the work of the Spirit and dies in that condition, the Bible says it's blasphemy against the work of the Spirit. It is the unforgivable sin, the only sin God will not forgive if somebody dies in that condition.
Every other sin he's promised to forgive.
So there's no sin he won't forgive.
There's nothing you bring into this room that he cannot handle.
So as I close the message this morning, I hope you have a wonderful, joyous, peaceful holiday. But a big part of it, guys, is by being honest with the things that we're allowing to happen in our heart.
Remember what Jesus said to his disciples, John 14, let not your hearts be troubled. He didn't say, let not your life be troubled. He said, don't let your heart be troubled, because the most significant thing that can happen to you is not a troubled life, but a troubled heart. So don't let what goes on out here get in here, because when it gets in here, it affects your joy, your peace, and your ability to love. You need a cathaross. You need a way to get that out of your heart. You need to have a clean heart, a pure heart. And Jesus said in the Beatitudes, if you do that, you'll be blessed. Let's pray together.
Father, thank you for your word. As Isaiah reminds us, it never returns empty. Your word always hits the target. It always accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent. So, Lord, help us from this worship today, from this celebration of our veterans, from this time of communion and this time of hearing your word. Help us draw something from this hour that will make us more effective as we leave here.
Help us to take something the spirit of God has placed within our minds and hearts and act upon it this week.
Help us to put it into practice this week. I know you've spoken to every heart and those watching online. Help us to take that which you've given us now and apply it. You've told us faith without our works is dead. So help us to apply it now. And finally, Lord, I pray for anyone listening in this room online who've never trusted you as savior. I pray this would be that moment where they humble their heart, they swallow their pride, and they say, Lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. I pray this in Jesus precious name. Amen.
[00:29:54] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
