Comfort and Challenge
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
The history of the church, and even that of our personal lives, can be characterized as pendulum swings between extremes - with each of the extremities representing obviously good things. Let me give a few examples:
The modes of worship have fluctuated between the very formal to the very casual, between sober reverence and vigorous ecstasy. In Theology, the emphasis has rotated between transcendence (God is apart from us - out there somewhere), and immanence (in here and noticeably present). There have been times when it seems that the church existed for saints, and at other times for sinners - in one era it has served the purpose of education, in another it was for evangelism. There's been a pendulum swing regarding leadership. At one time importance has been placed on the clergy, at another time on the ministry of the laity. The question has been, "Does God speak to individuals, or only through constituted leadership?" And there are other pendulum swings that could be mentioned: freedom vs. responsibility; the motivation of love vs. fear; the sovereignty of God vs. the free will of man.
The comfort part is especially desirable. Some key words associated with this would be:
We try every possible position to get ourselves comfortable, we snuggle up in comforters, eat comfort food, attempt to remain within our comfort zones, and stay overnight at the "Comfort Inn". There's the story of the young man who took his girlfriend to see the most recent movie. Not long after they settled into their seats, sounding quite concerned, the young man said, "Is your seat comfortable?" "Yes," she answered. A few minutes later he asked, "Can you see over the head of the large man in front of you?" "No problem." Again a few minutes went by. "Is there a cold draft on your neck?" "No." After another brief pause, the young man then asked, "Do you want to change seats?"
Thankfully, God provides much needed comfort in times of anxiety, stress, pressure, sorrow, sickness, loneliness, frustration, and depression. During such times we have learned to go to the Scriptures and read the reassuring messages like this one,
In the Old Testament it was Joshua. Listen to what God said directly to this man who was about to assume the leadership of the new nation formed under the guidance of the great Moses:
Notice that within this rather short paragraph, God said the same thing three times, "Be strong and courageous." There was a great job to be done, and God wanted Joshua to move ahead in spite of expected fear and discouragements ("Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged") and provided the wonderful, reassuring promise. "God will be with you wherever you go."
"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (I Timothy 6:11,12) Evidently, again like Joshua, Timothy needed to face and overcome fear. Hear what Paul wrote at the beginning of his second letter: "God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God." (II Timothy 1:7,8) Perhaps this is why in I Timothy 4:12 Paul wrote, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young." Paul wants his protégé to not only overcome his own inner fears, but also the put-downs of those who are older than he. Listen to the rest of the challenging message given to Timothy in verses 13-16:
2. do not neglect your gift 3. be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them 4. watch over your life and doctrine closely 5. persevere
Our older members may remember George Mallory (1886–1924), the English mountain climber who attempted to climb Mount Everest three times in 1921, 1922, and 1924. He and his partner, Andrew Irvine, did not return from the 1924 expedition; Mallory's body was discovered on Everest in 1999. When asked why he wanted to climb Everest, Mallory simply said, "Because it's there." Since the first attempts in 1921, Everest has been climbed by more than 1400 people from twenty countries - more than 170 have lost their lives. In May 1996, eight lost their lives in the single greatest disaster on the mountain — yet it did not stop others from attempting the climb just weeks later, resulting in four more deaths. The total for that year alone was fifteen. The following May, another nine mountaineers died. The first American woman to reach the top of Everest was Stacy Allison, who explained the motivation behind climbing by saying, "Climbers are drawn by the potential to test their skills, knowledge, and judgments - the opportunity to push themselves beyond their limits." In 1982, John Amatt organized and took part in Canada's first successful expedition up Mount Everest. In his book, "Mile High Life," he tells how climbing began for him. As a youngster, John and his father were hiking up the highest mountain in the British Isles, "Ben Nevis" in Scotland. It was a rainy morning, John was cold and the climb had hardly begun. When he told his dad he wanted to go back to the car, his father looked down at him with a stern face and said, "If you turn around now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life." John completed that climb with his father, and by the age of 20, looking for greater challenges, he and three friends decided to attempt to climb "Troll Wall" in Norway, affectionately called “Vertical Mile”. Other climbers said it couldn’t be done. Many people had hiked up the back of the mountain, laid on their stomachs looking over the edge and pushed huge boulders off into the void, watching as those rocks fell straight down through the air without touching anything for over 5,000 feet. John and his friends were determined to prove the doubters wrong, to prove that the impossible could be made possible by taking it one foot at a time. Afterwards, they would recount that the hardest part of the climb came the night before the climb was to start. John wrote, "Trying to sleep at the base of the cliff, we looked up at this huge black mass stretching up into the stars. As we listened to rocks whistling through the air, our minds were a turmoil of anxiety, worrying about all the things that could go wrong up there. But we knew that unless we conquered the fear and started the climb, we would never discover if we were up to the challenge. "The next day, we began the inch by inch struggle up the 'Vertical Mile'. It was painfully slow and we endured rain, sleet, falling rocks and gusts of icy wind as we moved higher. At night, we tied ourselves onto ledges no more than two feet wide and tried to sleep. Looking down at the thousands of feet of space below us, we never had a problem knowing which side of the bed to get out of in the morning! "As we neared the summit, I was bringing up the rear as my companions attacked the final overhang. One by one, they disappeared from sight above me and I was left hanging on the rock face with the rope as my only link to safety. Unable to communicate, I waited for their signal to follow. As my mind drifted, time slowly passed by. Glancing at my watch, I suddenly realized I had been dangling in midair thousands of feet above solid ground for two hours. My imagination began to race. Had something gone wrong? Had someone been injured in a fall? Had they been knocked unconscious by falling rock? Or worse. "My gruesome thoughts were interrupted as the rope shook. It was my sign to start climbing. Enormous relief swept through my body, followed by a surge of adrenaline as I climbed through the overhanging rock and rejoined my friends. "The next day we finished the climb and reached the top. We had accomplished the impossible and completed an ascent which is now a classic in world mountaineering. But I knew that this was just the beginning. Having opened up this door, I now wondered how many other climbs were possible?"
It seems to me, however, that when we in the church today are faced with the idea of challenge, fear is not the major road-block. Rather, what stands in our way is that we have lost sight of any reason to press forward at all. Too many are content to remain camped at the base of the mountain, and most have been there so long they have nearly forgotten there is a mountain at all. Do you remember the lesson we learned from William Carey, the British missionary to India? He's the one who coined the expression, "Expect great things from God; Attempt great things for God." The sermon which included these words was preached on May 31, 1792, and was based on Isaiah 54:2,3:
Actually, the mountain climbers have the advantage - they can see the mountain. Probably God is asking us to take on a challenging project that cannot be seen with physical eyes, but only with spiritual vision. Are we even willing to ask God to provide that vision, to enable us to take on a new and bold challenge? At the beginning of the year we set out to pray and believe God for the salvation of family members. Have we given up the challenge of that climb and wandered back to base camp to return to comfort and ease? What of our Christian witness in the neighborhood and at work? Is that a mountain we are willing to take on? Or are we content to sit in the comfort of our homes and watch the Christian media do the job of evangelizing our friends and neighbors? And, it must be asked, what of the ministry in the church? Where are the men and women who are willing to take up the challenge of teaching and mentoring our children and teens? Where are those who are willing to sacrifice time and effort to climb the mountains of church building and grounds cleaning and maintenance, stewardship responsibilities and outreach programs? Untold millions are right now giving evidence that they are willing to take up great athletic, business, military, and even humanitarian challenges. Where are those who are ready to respond a challenge greater than any other, to raise the awareness of the reality of God, and to rescue millions from certain eternal death. Yes there will be sacrifice, and yes, there will be tremendous risks. But the rewards will be far more than that of the bear who went over the mountain "to see what he could see." We understand that the attempted rescue of Peter Cooley from off the treacherous Liberty Ridge of Mount Rainier cost nearly $50,000 and involved dozens of people, some of whom risked their own lives to save his. What are we willing to do to attempt to alter the eternal destiny of the multitudes still precariously perched on that same ledge? Are we willing to accept the challenge, or do we want to be satisfied with only the comfort?
Comfort and Challenge 1. What are examples of some ways, in our personal lives as well as our church life, where we fluctuate between extremes of good things, and thus get out of balance? 2. During what kind of experiences do we most need the Lord's comfort? 3. If you had a list of "go to" Scriptures when in need of comfort, what verses would be included on the list? 4. Name an Old Testament person to whom God gave a great challenge. 5. Perhaps at one time Timothy could have been called "Timid Timothy." Why would he have had this nickname, and what did God through Paul do about it? 6. In I Timothy 4:12-16, Paul included several items in his challenging message to Timothy. What were they? 7. Why do people still try to climb high mountains even after they find out that others have died trying? 8. Evidently both Joshua and Timothy had to overcome fear as they accepted their challenge. According to one mountain climber cited, what is the most difficult part of the climb? 9. For Christians what are some of the roadblocks that stand in the way of taking on challenges? 10. In his now famous sermon, William Carey, the British missionary to India preached from Isaiah 54:2,3. What were the companion phrases that came out of this sermon? 11. Why are spiritually based challenges more difficult than mountain climbing challenges, and what is required to overcome this difficulty? 12. One of the greatest challenges we have received is that called Evangelism. In what spheres of our daily lives should we be willing to take up this challenge?  - - Return to Top of this Page  - Email a Link to this Page
- Go To Next Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
 - Back To Sermons Page or to the Sermons Alphabetical List
 - - Download This Sermon
|
