Extraordinary Gift - Extraordinary Life

Extraordinary Gift – Extraordinary Life
Sermon Notes – Ps. Jim White
Sunday 2nd May 2010
• While we were on holidays, Venese and I went to the cinema and saw “Beneath Hill 60”. It was about the Australian troops in WWI in France – fighting against the Germans. But it was an aspect of the war that I knew nothing about before – how these Aussie diggers (which was an appropriate term in this case), many who had worked in Australian mines before the war, were now digging tunnels deep under French soil.

• The fighting was going on above ground, but there was a different, and yet just as devastating form of warfare going on under the ground. The idea was to build a tunnel under “no man’s land”, right under the enemy – set explosives there – and blow them up from underneath. The trouble was, the Germans were doing the same thing – and sometimes the two opposing tunnel networks would connect, with horrific results.

• Then I bought a book which I knew was about WWI – but I didn’t realise until I started reading it, that it was about the English and the Belgians building tunnels under war torn France to try and blow up the Germans as well.

• Anyway – this is not meant to be a history lesson – but with Anzac Day, and documentaries on TV over the last couple of weeks, it has given me a renewed appreciation and gratitude for the extraordinary, outrageous and extravagant price that was paid for my freedom – for the freedom of my family – for the freedom of this nation.

• And I don’t know if you remember, but one of the last messages I preached before going on holidays – was based on the scripture in Gal 5:1 – “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”

• And as much as I am grateful for the freedom that the men and women in previous generations have bought me – I am even more forever grateful for the freedom I have in Christ. The price that Jesus Christ paid – the torture and death by crucifixion – for sin and death that was rightfully mine – is even more extraordinary and outrageous.

• I think of what Paul said in Rom 5:7,8 – “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

• I think there were probably many different reasons why our forebears went to war. For some young men, I’m sure there was a sense of adventure - to begin with anyway. For many, they were passionate about fighting for the freedom that our nation enjoyed. They did it for their families, their land, their homes... they did it because of many good and honourable reasons.

• And many of us would stand up and fight for the same values today.

• But would we give our life for criminals? For murderers? For thieves? For the unjust? Or the immoral? For those described as the dregs of society?

• Well, Jesus did. And in a very true sense – we were no better than those people.

• How could we ever imagine the spiritual weight that Jesus took upon Himself on the cross – the weight of the sin of the world – let alone the natural pain and torment of death. For that moment – separated from His Father – because the Father could not look upon that sin – He was unable to look upon His Son. What anguish that must have caused the heart of Jesus.

• Jesus cried out on the cross (Matt 27:46) – “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”

• The more I read about the experiences of our armed forces in war – the more I realise I have no idea what they really went through. I have read stories that I could share with you – as many of you could with me – but for most of us they are still just the stories of others.

• My grandmother’s brother is listed as killed in action in WWII – but what really happened was that he accidently shot and killed himself climbing through a fence, the day after peace was declared. What a waste of life. What a price he paid. My great grandfather William Wotherspoon, died in 1915 at the age of 28 – I presume during WWI. I’m still uncovering details of his life.

• I mightn’t understand the price these men paid, but what I can do is to learn to appreciate the gift of freedom and the gift of life that they have given me.

• And it’s even more so with the gift of freedom and life that we have all received through Jesus Christ – that we have been spiritually set free and given the gift of eternal life. We haven’t experienced the pain of death – but we can learn to know what it means to live the gift of life that we have, in an extraordinary and grateful way.

• Some of us may need to be released spiritually from the trauma and impact that war has had on us and our family through our generational heritage, before we can really live in the fullness of life that is ours in Christ.

• The closer in age to our war torn past we are, the easier it probably is to identify some of the patterns of behaviour and emotional responses that have become generational in some of our families. Men who were unable to speak about the horrors they encountered simply shut down and detached themselves from intimacy with others.

• That pattern from father to son or father to daughter can become self perpetuating – with an inability particularly for the men to bring forth and impart relational wholeness and intimacy to their children.

• We are not condemned in that – but we need to recognise why some people might feel stuck relationally, emotionally, socially, mentally... I want to pray before we finish this morning for all of us as a whole – that any lingering effects of generational isolation and withdrawal – fear – abandonment – shut down – particularly as a result of war in past generations, will be broken from our lives in the name of Jesus Christ.

• Do you understand what I am talking about? Do you see the young people – and not only the young – husbands and fathers also who haven’t been called forth into sonship and the ways of a man.

• Of course there are many different reasons why that can happen – but I’m beginning to wonder if the devastation that so many of our military personnel suffered, has had more of an ongoing impact on us as a nation than we have realised.

• For some, it’s a different kind of war that has to be battled out. Some are fighting every day against spiritual, emotional, psychological and carnal forces that are part of their own private war.

• And it can be like the soldiers in the tunnels. Nobody sees it. It can be hidden from daylight. It’s like a game of cat and mouse.

• I can’t remember if I saw it in the movie, or read it in the book – that the existence in the tunnels was described as a hell within a hell. Like a private hidden war underneath the outer more obvious battles.

• I don’t want you to put your hand up – but who has ever felt like that? Like you are fighting a battle that no-one else would be aware of. The outer challenges of life are hard enough, but then there’s the inner world battle that you seem to have to fight on your own.

• Part of your life exists in the tunnels – and you do your best to keep clear of the enemy – but every now and then you’re confronted with the realty of the enemy’s presence in a very real way.

• If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s wonderful. But be aware that many lives run deep under the surface.

• The battle is real. Addiction is real. The temptation of evil forces is real. The way the devil tries to play with our minds is real. Much of what we battle begins with our human, carnal, fleshly nature. Then the devil jumps on board. But we will never win the battles of life by fighting on a natural level.

• 2Cor 2:3-4 – “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds...”

• Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean we are automatically clear of strongholds - automatically immune to temptation – or to the enemy’s attempt to distract us... The last time I looked, we hadn’t arrived in heaven yet. We still live in a broken, fallen, world. And “your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1Pet 5:8).

• Strongholds are like castles or fortresses we have allowed to build up – they can be like arguments or reasonings that don’t line up with the Word of God – things like unbelief and fear and confusion. They can also be walls of emotional protection...

• And they stop us from living in freedom. But the good news is that our spiritual weapons of warfare are mighty in God. Our weapons of prayer – declaring the Word – faith – proclaiming and pleading the Blood of Jesus over our situations – these are the kinds of weapons that pull down strongholds.

• 2Cor 2:5 – “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ...”

• We have too many “high things” that want to exalt themselves in our lives above the truth. High things like attitudes, unforgiveness, judgementalism, self righteousness. I hate that one. It’s full of pride and a sense of self importance.

• We can bring these things into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The Word doesn’t lie. If God says we can make them captive, then we can. Unbelief will probably be the first thing you have to deal with. It’s a high thing in itself.

• We choose to cast down these strongholds and high things. When temptation comes – you make a choice to cast it own. You mightn’t feel like it – you mightn’t be used to it – but you do it by the power of God.

• I remember Ps. Lindsay Earl – she led the intercessors in Brisbane – when she had a thought pass her mind that she knew wasn’t of God, she would visualise herself with a lasso – throwing it around that thought or fear or whatever it was – and ripping it out of her mind – casting it down. Don’t be afraid to use your imagination to put God’s word into a visual context. Our imagination is a God given gift – it’s part of how the Holy Spirit reveals things to us.

• And these things will come into obedience to Christ – not to you – but to Christ in you. The answer is bigger than you and your carnal fleshly ability or strength.

• Rev 12:10-11 – “Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

• Here again are our weapons of warfare – the blood of the Lamb – that is, the blood of Jesus Christ – and the word of our testimony. In other words – the declaration of God’s faithfulness and goodness from our own mouth.

• What is your testimony in the heat of the battle? Is it a testimony about the power and majesty of God – His might – His strength – His kindness toward you? Or do you testify to how hard it is – how bad things are?

• And remember, a testimony is not a story of what a terrible person you once were and how now you’re wonderful and amazing. A testimony is about God – who He is – what He has done in our life.

• You don’t live in fairy land and pretend everything is wonderful when it’s not. But you testify to the greater truth that all the things that accompany salvation are yours – through Christ.

• And then we come to one of the more difficult parts of this particular scripture – not loving our lives to the death.

• But this is not really so difficult to get your head around in the context of Gal 2:20, where it says that we have already been crucified with Christ – and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.

• And Col 3:2-4 – “Set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

• We do not love our lives to the death because in a very true sense we are already dead to ourselves.

• If we could really enter into that truth, the devil would have no place in our lives. There would be no room for him to make any appeal to our flesh – our mind – our attitude... because it would all be of Christ.

• I wish I could say that I was that person. But what I can say is what Paul said in 1Cor 15:31 – that “I die daily”.

• The more we die, the more we live in resurrection life.

• And isn’t that where we started? Having acknowledged what our forefathers have done for us – we have freedom as a nation and as a people. In exchange for their extraordinary sacrifice and death – we have the opportunity to live an extraordinary life.

• But in the light of eternity, the extraordinary sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us at Calvary – means we can live forever in the freedom of resurrection life. An extraordinary and extravagant gift has made way for extraordinary freedom and life.

• So I think our response to that this morning should be that we ask God to remove any blockages – any generational patterns that may still make us vulnerable in certain areas – and I’m thinking particularly in relation to the effects of war, and good honourable men returning home and not having any way of dealing with the horrific things they were part of – and so they shut down emotionally, relationally, even spiritually.

• And I’d like to pray for those of us who fight battles in the tunnels. Where the war goes on underground – hidden – away from the light of day.

• Let’s cast down those strongholds by the Blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony to the greatness of God – and let’s not love our lives as they are – but allow that daily dying to take place so that resurrection life and freedom can burst through.