Pastor's Corner: 'Rejoice in the Lord's mercy'

On Sunday, Aug. 15, I preached the third sermon in the series "Anxious for Nothing," This series is based on the Apostle Paul's writings in Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV) "6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." We are also using a book written by Max Lucado by that same title "Anxious for Nothing," written in 2017, Thomas Nelson Publishing. We have purchased copies of this book for our Leadership Team members, and I would encourage anyone dealing with anxiety to purchase this book. Here are my notes from the sermon on that Sunday.

Philippians 4:4, one of our theme verses, states "4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" During this sermon series we have been going over effective ways to deal with anxiety. One causes of anxiety's is guilt, or phrased a little bit better - "unresolved regret." There is a guilt that says, "I did bad." And there is a guilt that concludes, "I am bad." The second kind of guilt brings on an anxiety that becomes extremely dangerous, if not dealt with appropriately. In the Bible, the Apostle Paul had to deal with this guilt, this unresolved regret. You may remember that before his experience of meeting Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road, Paul (at that time, named Saul) was a religious terrorist. He had been imprisoning and punishing Jesus' followers. He even approved of the martyrdom of Stephen, holding the coats of the people as they stoned this disciple of Jesus. Without a doubt, Paul was an ancient version of a terrorist. And he was legalistic to the core. Before he knew Christ, Paul had spent a lifetime trying to save himself. His salvation depended on his perfection, on his performance. I wonder how many of us are doing that same thing?

So, once Paul met Jesus Christ on that Damascus Road, how did he handle this guilt stemming from his terrorist activities? Now, he couldn't see any option except to spend the rest of his life talking less about himself and more about Jesus! He became the poet of grace. In exchange for self-salvation, God gave Paul righteousness. Read his words. Philippians 3:7,9,13-14 "7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ ... 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in (a) Christ - the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ... 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Paul gave his guilt to Jesus. He simply surrendered it to Jesus. What would Paul say to a guilt-ridden person, perhaps like you and me? Simply this, rejoice in the Lord's mercy. Trust in His ability to forgive. Abandon any attempt at self-salvation or justification. Cast yourself upon the grace of Christ and Christ alone.

Max Lucado, in his book "Anxious for Nothing," puts it this way "A happy saint is one who is at the same time aware of the severity of sin and the immensity of grace. Sin is not diminished, nor is God's ability to forgive it." The saint dwells in grace, not guilt. God's grace is greater than your sin! God's mercy snaps the guilt chains and sets you free! The benefit of being a great sinner is dependence upon a great grace. I have never been more or less saved than the moment I was first saved. Not one bad thing has deducted from my salvation. No good deed, if there are any, has enhanced it. Again, Max Lucado expresses it so well "My salvation has nothing to do with my work and everything to do with the finished work of Christ on the cross." Do you know this grace? If not, we have stumbled upon a source of your anxiety. Your problem is this unresolved guilt. But please remember, God's grace is greater than your sin. What you did was not good. But your God is good! And He will forgive you. Jesus took my sin! Let Him take yours! We have to learn to totally and completely rely upon the forgiveness and cleansing of Jesus' blood, shed on Calvary's cross! Perhaps we could learn about this from a trapeze artist. What is the secret of trapeze artists? The flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything. The worst thing the flyer can do is try to catch the catcher. A flyer must fly, and a catcher must catch, and the flyer must trust, with outstretched arms, that his catcher will be there for him.

Max Lucado describes it this way "In the great trapeze acts of salvation, God is the catcher, and we are the flyers. We trust. Period." We rely solely upon God's ability to catch us. As we do, a wonderful thing happens we fly. Your heavenly Father has never dropped anyone. He will not drop you. His grip is sturdy and His hands are open. Place yourself entirely in God's care.

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Put together by the Rev. Edroy "Curt" Curtis, president of the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association; Northern Montana Care Center chaplain, and lead pastor of Havre Assembly of God Church, with quotes from the New King James Version of the Bible and all other quotes from Max Lucado in his book, "Anxious for Nothing," 2017; Thomas Nelson Publishing