"Let Go"
Sermon Transcript for September 5, 2004
(First in 3-part sermon series, “Re-energizing Your Life”)
Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:10-14
By Rev. Mike Beck
To especially the 9:15 a.m. crowd, I want to assure you this is not going to become normal pastoral attire. But we had five wonderful weeks of relaxing in California; and had the privilege to go on Saturday night to Rick Warren’s church at Saddleback and Sunday morning to the Crystal Cathedral. And to all my golfing friends, in all seriousness, that weekend of worship was even better than playing Pebble Beach. But, we have done the “40-Days of Purpose” here at Grace. It’s strengthened the life of our congregation. And any of you who have seen Rick Warren on video know that this deep man of God always preaches in a flowered shirt and a pair of khaki pants. So I thought, “It’s Labor Day weekend, we’ve enjoyed the privilege of being in church, and we’re celebrating my renewal leave, so I thought I’d dress like this this morning.” It felt really odd coming to church this way. And for those of you, I do want to assure you next week I’ll keep my robe on the entire service.
But I think I want to begin just with a deep, deep sense of humility for the opportunities that God has given to Mickey and I over the past four months that you helped make possible. I want to say a tremendous word of thanks for your love, for your prayers that we felt in such powerful ways. Now I don’t think anybody thought the church would fall down in my absence. If they did, when I came back it looked like it not only not fell down, it got bigger. But Reverend Dan and Sandy, all of the staff and all or you, I sincerely believe as a result of these four months, you not only have a renewed, different in some good ways pastor returning to be your leader, but the church is a stronger church than the one I left because of the team that’s been assembled in ministry, the fabulous leadership that Reverend Dan has given, and so many lay people that stepped up to the plate with things like the fair booth and vacation bible school and so many other ways. So before I message today, I think you deserve to give yourself and the staff a big round of applause for a job well done. During the month of October, both here at Grace and at the United Methodist Community, there is going to be a series of programs for us to have a chance to share some of the insight that we have gained.
But I want to begin this morning a three-part sermon series that I’m titling, “Re-energizing Your Life”. And certainly my life has been re-energized in so many ways. And you may not have the opportunity to take a four-month renewal leave, but I’m sure that there are many of you who need to find ways where you live to let your life be re-energized. This morning’s sermon is simply entitled two words, “Let Go!” And I want to share a story to lead into this. The Monday after we had been back from our West Coast trip for four or five days, Donna, our Business Manager, stopped by the house in the morning on her way to church. The Building Committee and the Finance Committee had a somewhat important decision to make and Donna was certain that I was totally up to speed on everything that was going on and that I would want to have input into that decision. And she was rather shocked when I said to her, “Donna, I didn’t take my computer with me on the seven weeks. I haven’t read a single minute from the Building Committee. I decided why in the world would I want to ruin a once in a lifetime opportunity by being concerned about things that I didn’t need to be concerned about? And we’ve got a tremendous Finance Committee and Building Committee and I am quite confident they can make that decision without any input from me. And Donna works with me closely and she kind of walked out the door shaking her head saying, “I can’t believe he really has let go of things.”
So for all of those this morning and some of those coming out of my own reflection over these past four months, I want to list six things that we need, each of us, to let go of in order to live healthier more Christ-centered lives.
The Need for Control: The first of those is this: we need to let go of the need for control. And there is something new in your bulletin. I think it will be there most Sundays from here on out. You’ll find a sermon outline where you can take pencil or pen and you can write in these six points. The first one--the need for control. For some people like myself, that is something that is kind of readily apparent in the way we go about our daily responsibilities. But for others it’s much more subtle where we may not even be aware of what we are doing and its negative effects upon us and upon others. I had the privilege of, a week ago Thursday/Friday being in Nashville, Tennessee. I went to see Dr. Neterfell who was thrilled with the progress from my surgery in January to which I offer praise to God. We got to spend a couple of days with our good friends, Alan and Lori Beasley. Alan’s a pastor in Alabama. And Alan and his previous church those three years just went through a very painful experience that really was not of his own making. And I asked Alan what he had learned from those experiences. And he said, “I learned what stress feels like.” But he said, “I’m committed to providing stronger leadership from a pastoral standpoint in the church to which I am now assigned.” We got to play golf the next morning. I hate to admit it, but Alan’s become better than I am. It was like icing on the cake to beat him in golf. But during the round I said, “Alan, let me share with you something I’ve learned during these months of my renewal leave. Strong pastoral leadership is critically important. It is very seldom that a church rises above the level of its pastoral leadership.” But acknowledging that truth, I told Alan, I said, “Alan, I have learned in these four months of reflection, that although we need to give good strong leadership, we can lead too strong to where star persons and gifted lay people are not able to truly share their gifts.” And so I said, “Lead strongly but not so strongly that you are trying to control everything that goes on.” And I would ask each of you, “Where is this first point an issue in your life today that you need to let go of.”
Past Hurts: Secondly, we need to let go of past hurts. Past hurts—those persons who have wronged you maybe very deeply, who have let you down, who have said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Friends, if you are unwilling to let go of those things, you’re the only one being hurt. They are not; you are. Let me illustrate that in the church. And maybe there are people out there whose paths will cross you this week. But in words that God will give you, you can say to them, “Don’t be held back from worshiping God by some past hurt.” Persons who stop attending church because on a busy Sunday morning they thought the pastor intentionally walked by them without shaking their hand. Or the person that was in the hospital and the pastor didn’t come visit. But of course, they never bothered to call the pastor to tell them that they were at the hospital. The layperson in the church that in the grocery store said the wrong thing and it hurt their feelings and they stopped coming to church. And I’m afraid in too many cases those things become simply convenient excuses to justifying their self-centered life style and give them a couple of extra hours in their own week.
In this area of past hurts, I wonder what God would have to say to us on the day of judgment if we have held on and not let go of those past hurts. Because if you remember Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness, he said the only thing that would nullify God’s forgiveness is if we fail to forgive those who have wronged us. John Savage, who did a wonderful consultation for us several years ago, taught us so much. But the one thing that I remember above all else John said, “Every church, every institution, every individual, every one of us is both radically gifted and radically flawed.” And the person who goes through life in a healthy way focuses on the gifts and lets go of the flaws. And I think this point is so important that I invite you to bow for a moment of prayer with me. “Heavenly Father, this one is hard and we would not oversimplify it because when we have been hurt deeply, it may take years for us to reach a point of true forgiveness. All you want from us Lord is a prayer that simply said, ‘I’m willing in your timing to let this go. But I know Ill need your help to do it.’ Help us to let go of past hurts. Amen.”
The Need to be Right: Thirdly, we need to let go of the need to be right. Now please listen carefully to me here for I’m on this point in danger of being misunderstood. I am not saying that we shouldn’t have strong convictions. I’m not saying that there isn’t right and wrong in regard to issues, conduct or doctrine. I’m not saying that there are not times that we have to draw a line in the sand over which we can not cross and be faithful to the teaching of God’s Word. But what I am talking about here has to do with our hearts, our attitudes, and a deep sense of genuine Christian love and humility in our relationships with other persons who differ with our convictions. I had the privilege of giving devotions at John Wesley’s tomb outside City Road Chapel there in London. And on Wesley’s tombstone were the phrases that are written there is that throughout his life, he faithfully defended the true, apostolic faith. And he did that. But yet as I’ve read much on Wesley, Wesley modified many of his positions, as he grew older. Things that he had taught and said when he was thirty were modified when he said them at seventy. And Wesley, who said his purpose in life was to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land, he defined holiness in the simplicity this way. He said, “Love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
And, friends, this point is so critical within our denomination today. We are a diverse church. There are times in which we have to simply agree that we disagree. That’s okay. In fact, if you read the New Testament carefully, you will see that Peter and Paul, great saints in the faith, disagreed on many issues. As I’ve read about the Wesley’s, we have this idyllic picture that John and Charles were just always bosom buddies who agreed on everything. Nothing could be further from the truth! Sometimes we just have to agree to disagree. And it’s okay. But, friends, it is never Biblical to be lacking in love for anyone for whom our precious Savior died.
So where is this point applicable in you life and in your relationships with others? We ought to have strong convictions. And I have those. But in humility I also have to say some of those strongly held convictions are probably wrong. Where do you need to let go of the need to always be right?
God’s Resources: Fourthly, we need to let go of God’s resources. For in actuality, we own nothing. You don’t own a single thing. God has simply loaned you some things and he expects you to manage them wisely as stewards in what we call the Kingdom of God. Some dear friends and some faithful servants of God have left this world during the four months that I was gone from you. And do you know what? Not a one of those saints took one dime of anything they had accumulated of this world’s goods with them! And neither will you and neither will I!
Some of the best books in my library that have been close to me are small. This little book we’ll be getting about one hundred copies and make them available during the month of October leading up to a special campaign entitled, “Taking the Next Step Forward”. It’s a book by Randy Alcorn called The Treasure Principle: Discovering the Secret of Joyful Giving. There is a marvelous building going up there thanks to your gifts, but there aren’t furnishings for those rooms. That upstairs youth center that is going to be fabulous and was needed three years ago will remain an unfinished shell. And we’ve been praying that God will lay a burden upon especially the hearts of some here at Grace that have been blessed abundantly of financial resources to let go of some of those so that God can do all He wants to do within and through Grace Church. There will be a place for all of us to take that step forward. There will be gifts that will be needed as small as $50.00. There will be special projects that range in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But when we try and hold on to God’s resources, we limit his work, we limit our growth spiritually, and what this book taught me is we fail to experience the blessing God wants to give back to us when we invest in the Kingdom.
The Future: Fifthly, we need to, and this is going to sound strange, we need to let go of the future because I just talked about the future God has for Grace Church. Again, hear me carefully. I am not saying we take a “whatever will be, will be” approach toward life and fail to plan. There is a lot of truth in the old saying that those who fail to plan, plan to fail. God gave us a brain and he expects us to use it. And in fact, one of the reasons that this new educational wing has been one of the smoothest projects that I have ever watched unfold in terms of a new building, has to do with about four years of careful planning and the work of a talented Building Committee and Finance Committee who planned well and are now seeing the fruits of their labors.
So I’m not saying that when we need to let go of the future that that means that we don’t plan. Anything but that! I don’t have time to flush it out completely so I’ll give you the short version. After I got over my viral infection…and let me detour here for just a moment. I appreciate the prayer chains. And just before we left I picked up a viral infection. I went to the doctor and he gave me some antibiotics but he said it will probably just nature will have to run its course. And I felt pretty miserable the first week or so. And I called home to my dad whose hearing is starting to go. And I said, “Would you have the prayer chains pray for this viral infection that it will clear up?” Well, I got word back that it was a staph infection that people were praying for and that there were even preliminary plans for my memorial service. So I made sure to make sure that any future prayer requests got relayed through my mom and not my dad.
But once that thing cleared up, there was only one day in the entire four months that we would call a bad day. And it occurred at St. Andrews the last day we were there. Nothing that day went right. And when I crawled in bed at 11:00 p.m. I couldn’t get to sleep. And I’m not talking about seeing God in a visual sense or hearing God’s voice in an audible way, that didn’t occur. But God’s presence for the next two hours was so incredibly real to me causing me to count my blessings, causing me to just realize his awesome plan for all people. And him speaking to me and saying, “Mike, haven’t I taken care of things in the past. Am I not using you now? I know there are physical afflictions that you are worried about and other things, but he said, ‘Let go of them. Let go the future. If God has taken care of the past and the present, can you not trust me to take care also of the future.’ And I went over to my window, which was open, the fog was so thick you couldn’t see the sea but I could hear it pounding the shore. And I looked at my watch as I’m out there and it was 12:30 a.m. And I counted back six hours and said in Franklin, it’s Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. As I’d been having this experience, God’s people have been in worship at Grace Church. Let go of the future. Let it be in God’s hands.
Fear of a Deeper Commitment to Christ: And then, finally, we need to let go of the fear a lot of people have. I’ve had it. Made a mess of my three years in seminary. A fear of a deeper commitment to Christ! That fear can take on many different forms. It can express itself as it did for me in seminary, as a failure to truly trust God. That comes back to that issue of control. We think that if we truly surrender to God, life will be boring. Or we think about what we will have to give up. Or we rationalize and we say, “I don’t have time to be a part of ministry with that group.” In its simplest form, this fear results in our settling for what I would call a quarter’s worth of God. And I suppose a quarter’s worth of God is better than none at all, but if you settle for that, you will never know the joy and the peace and the abundant life that Jesus came to give us.
I want to mention a couple of ministries—our prayer groups. Take out that insert there in your bulletin, the one that says, “Going to Church” as we finish. We need some more members for our prayer groups and what a privilege it is to pray over those blue cards. No one is ever put on the spot in those groups to pray out loud. Maybe God has your name on that one. Our Caring Ministry Team will resume a week from Monday. If you love people, especially older people, come and be a part of that ministry. You’ll see a number of Bible Study groups that are coming up. Cindy Bills, down here, was part, one of those twenty-four persons who participated in that group that I led last year. At the beginning those twenty-four people said, “My gosh, thirty-four weeks, thirty minutes a day, two hours a class. But Cindy, I took those sheets that people took where they talked about what the experience meant to them, that they wrote at the end, and I must have read each of them three times. I’d love for you to have the opportunity to read them and see the blessing that they experienced when they took that step of faith.
In our Philosophy of Ministry are two points. One is “Acceptance of Christ as Savior must be followed by opportunities to grow in our understanding of Jesus as Lord.” And then another statement says, “Lives are best transformed in small groups.” So what I invite you to do with that sheet you have in your hand, is I want you to place it in your Upper Room or your Bible, on your night stand or on your dining room table, and I want you to pray it daily for a month. And I want you to, as you pray through it, ask God where do you have my name on that sheet?
I want to close from a passage of Scripture from Philippians, Chapter 3. It’s versus ten through fourteen. The words are on the screen; and I invite you to join me now in reading them. “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His suffering, becoming like Him in His death, and so somehow to obtain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all of this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take home that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining for what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenly in Christ Jesus.”
Instead of a closing hymn this morning, one of my favorite groups is the Gaither Vocal Band. They came out with a new CD earlier this year and this song especially spoke to me as I prepared for my renewal leave. And I think it makes progress if you live out the words of this song. So as it is played, the words will be on the screen. Let it be your prayer as well.
“Not Gonna Worry”
I’m not going to worry; I’m not going to fret
I’m not going to speculate or contemplate what hasn’t happened yet
I’m not going to worry; He’s got the whole thing in His hand.
I won’t let it hurt me; I won’t let it win
I’m not going to ruminate or meditate on how it might have been
I’m going to release it; He’s got the whole thing in His hand.
Maybe lately I’ve started to resign,
So here it goes, God only knows
It might just ease my mind
I’m not going to worry; I’m not going to fret
I’m just going to wait and see in between give praise for all I get
I’ll live in the moment; He’s got the whole thing in His hand.
Maybe lately I’ve started to resign
So here it goes, God only knows
It might just ease my mind.
I’m not going to worry; I’m not going to fret
I’m not going to speculate or contemplate what hasn’t happened yet.
I’m not going to worry; he’s got the whole thing in his hand.
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