Celebrate God's Goodness

Calm in chaos. You know, I got to be honest with you. When we chose this title for the series, we had no idea how relevant it would be this weekend. I mean, there was already a lot of chaos in the world and we already needed to get calm. And then this past Wednesday happened. So what do we do with that? I've done so much praying this week and sought counsel this week on what to do in this message in the weekend services. And I had to remember what we promised when we started the series last week is that we would not dwell on the chaos. We probably all get enough of that just by turning on the news.

What this series is about is figuring out how to find calm in the midst of the chaos. Now, let me be clear. I hope we would all have absolutely unequivocal condemnation of the tragic, inexcusable, ugly events we witnessed this past week in DC as I addressed in social media and video devos this past week. But there also needs to be a reorientation from that ugliness back toward God. And that's what we want to do today because I think—do you agree with this? I think we can overdose on bad news. And in order to be the people God wants us to be, people of peace, we have to reorient ourselves.

Let me explain why with a little science. Did you know that scientists can now do real-time brain scans that let them see the activity in your brain? This is a brain that they call flooded. That's what John Gottman, a researcher at the University of Washington, calls it. You can see all the red areas of this brain scan are places where this brain is anxious. What shows up as red is what your brain looks like when it feels under threat. You're flooded with adrenaline and all kinds of other chemicals. You go into hyper threat analysis. And rational thinking literally shuts down. It's literally impossible to reason with somebody whose brain is flooded.

Now, God gave us this. This is not a bug. It's a feature. It's designed for times of immediate threat, like when a mountain lion is attacking you. You don't have time to go, now, what are all my rational options here? It's just fight or flight mode, right? Just A or B. It's binary. So that flooded state of mind can be really a gift of survival. But here's the interesting thing. In the last decade, they found that the number of brain scans with flooded activity just as a baseline. In other words, it's the state that they're always in all the time has increased every single year for the last 10 years in America. One researcher said it's like everybody's brain is on fire.

And when you stay in that state of alarm all the time, it's not good for you. And it's not good for society. Scientists say this kind of brain activity leads to poor decision-making, next mood swings, and next difficulty concentrating because the rational part of the brain, again, is shut down. You can't concentrate. You read the same paragraph over and over again. You repeat yourself when you talk. Next, difficulty concentrating. No, I'm just kidding. Next, sleeplessness. And we've probably all experienced that this week. And then addiction to news feeds because you are in constant threat analysis mode.

And I'll be honest with you, I was there this week. I couldn't turn the news off. In fact, I was thinking the problem is our brains right now all look like this. We have phone brain. We are always on our news feeds all the time. So what's the solution to perpetually flooded mind? Well, there's an interesting study called the Meditative Mind, a comprehensive meta-analysis of MRI studies. This was put out in 2015. This is not woo woo, pseudoscience, new age stuff. This was put out by the National Institute of Health.

And what they call the Meditative Mind is when people pray or meditate for at least 20 minutes. When people are in the Meditative Mind, their brain scans completely change. It helps get the red out, you could say. The Meditative Mind—watch this. It's associated with relaxation. Of course, you'd expect that, but also better memory, longer attention spans, better problem-solving skills, better emotional control. You get less angry. Your trigger isn't so quick. In other words, does our world need peace right now? Well, to be the people of peace that our world so desperately needs, this is how to get there.

Reorientation, going from flooded mind, always watching the news feeds, to meditative mind, refocused on God and His goodness. And this is exactly what the Apostle Paul was telling the early Christians in his letter to the Philippians that we're studying all in this month of January. Do you remember the background that Mark covered so well last weekend in his intro message? The Apostle Paul had been jailed multiple times, had been tortured eight times in his life, shipwrecked three times, beaten by mobs three times.

He had been—when he writes the letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul is an old man and he is half blind, he's in prison, he's awaiting trial, probably execution by Nero. And in fact, I've been to the prison cell where he was likely held in Rome and I took this cell phone video of it. It's been cleaned up into a museum now. But you know what, it is still small and dark and cold and uncomfortable. Now think about it, this stinky, cramped, windowless basement dungeon or someplace very much like it is probably where Paul wrote the joyful words that we read today.

And think about this, Nero was on a campaign to kill not only Paul, but many, many more Christians. So to the people to whom Paul is writing here, there was a real threat. You could say the mountain lion named Nero was prowling. But Paul reorients them, calms them down, puts them in meditative mind with these words and this is the word of God for you and for me today and this week. Just soak in these verses, Paul says, in those circumstances, he says, rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice, let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And then he says, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Let's pray as we begin. Lord, we saw this week how desperately the world needs people of peace who serve the Prince of Peace in the way of peace. And so help us to get out of that flooded mindset and reoriented on you today.

We pray for our nation. We pray for our nation's leaders, for reorientation for them, for wisdom and a spirit of calmness. And especially God, we pray for your church in America and all across the world. May we who claim to follow you be filled with your spirit, a spirit of peace and love and gentleness and respect for all so that you may draw people to yourself when they see your spirit in us. And may this message today be a part of us getting there by your grace. In your name we pray. Amen.

You know, the series ties into Max Locato's book, Anxious for Nothing and TLC.org/com is the place to go to get the book, get into a Zoom Bible study group. It is not too late. Now each week in January, we are focused on a different verse or couple of verses today. The very first verse in that passage, say it with me wherever you're at. Here we go. Rejoice in the Lord always. I'll say it again. Rejoice.

Now you look at that verse and it is very, very easy to be misled with weirdo, almost cultic understandings of this verse historically. Let me put it this way. When I was a little kid at church in Sunday school, they used to play us records by Little Marcy. Does anybody out there remember Little Marcy? Sing with Marcy. Well, if you don't remember Little Marcy, it's not her. Little Marcy was this ventriloquist's dummy and Little Marcy's one big hit. You might remember this. It was Let the sunshine in. Do you remember that song? It went like this. Let the sunshine in. Face it with a grin. Open up your heart and let the sunshine in. Great lyrics right as a kid. I love that song.

That verse is, of course, is easy to remember, but have you looked at the verses lately? Well, this week I looked them back up. Here they are. I sang these. Many of us sang these every single weekend in Sunday school. Here we go. Mommy told me something that a little kid should know. It's all about the devil and I've learned to hate him so. She said he causes trouble when you let him in the room and he will never ever leave you if your heart is filled with gloom. So great. Now I'm sad and you're making me feel guilty that I'm sad because I'm letting the devil in.

So I know he'll be unhappy because I'll never wear a frown. Maybe if we keep on smiling, he'll get tired of hanging around. Now, I hesitated to say this because I know I'm going to get angry emails from flooded Little Marcy fans. Dear Pastor, many of us are deeply incensed. Listen, I like Little Marcy, but here's the point I'm making. A lot of us really learned that part of the Christian life is something like this. To be a good Christian means I'll never wear a frown and I'll always keep on smiling. Know what? You know what? That's not being a good Christian. That's being a good puppet.

But as adults, we come to verses like this and we think is this just more let the sunshine in Little Marcy singing here. I'll never ever wear a frown. And is that even possible? Is it possible to live in a state of uninterrupted gladness? Is it actually really possible? Well, no. Even if you're the best Christian on the planet, you are going to feel anxious at times. That is life. This verse does not mean God wants you to fake happiness. As Max Lucado puts it in his book, the presence of anxiety is unavoidable. The prison of anxiety is optional.

In other words, we're all going to feel anxious. We're not going to be happy all the time, but it doesn't have to run your life. It doesn't have to control you. This verse is not about pretending to be happy. It's about reorientation. As Lucado says in his book, this verse is a call not to a feeling but to a mindset to that meditative mind and away from flooded mind. It's kind of like these two cans. They look identical from the outside, right? Now, if I apply pressure to this one, it is easily crushed. The same exact amount of pressure on this one, and I hope this works. Hardly makes a dent. Why? This one was empty. Only difference. This one's full.

And this is a spiritual analogy. Imagine all the pressures that we've been facing as forces that press down on your soul. Now in 2021 so far and all 2020, we've been facing a lot of pressures and one crisis by itself might not have a lot of force, but right now there is a cumulative weight you could say of all of these crises pressing down on our souls. Do you feel it? I feel it. Well, it will crush you unless you reorient and you're filled inside with God's goodness. And that is exactly what this verse is about.

In fact, I realized this week that the key phrase in this verse that I had been overlooking my entire life. You want to know what it was? Was the phrase in the Lord. When life tries to crush you, when circumstances keep changing, you can celebrate God's goodness because that never changes. That is so important for us to remember. But how do you do that? Well for the rest of our time, I want to go to a chapter in the Bible that is an example of Philippians 4:4 and that's Psalm 103. You've heard Trent read some of it earlier in our service. It's a great illustration of what it means to rejoice in the Lord written by King David.

Probably when he's elderly, he's had a hard life. He's faced assassins. He's lived literally underground for years, faced two civil wars, a divided country. Interestingly, he even faced a pandemic that swept his capital. So in some ways very similar pressures to what we are feeling right now, a divided nation, a pandemic. Yet, David knows that in order to lead his people well, he's going to have to get reoriented from the problems to his Savior, to lead his people. So he reminds himself in Psalm 103 starting in verse 1, Bless the Lord, my soul. It's interesting. This isn't a prayer. He's telling himself how to think. Bless the Lord, my soul, all my inmost being. Bless his holy name.

In other words, rejoice in the Lord, not in all these crazy circumstances. And he talks about three specific things in this Psalm that you can always rejoice in no matter what pressures you're facing. And if you get what we're talking about today, this can completely change the way you are experiencing the pressures of life right now. It can change your brain from the flooded state to the meditative state. And that's going to be better for everybody. It's going to be better for our country. It's going to be better for your family. It's going to be better for your co-workers, the people you talk to on your street.

So what are the three things I can focus on when everything else is going crazy around me? How can I find calm and chaos? Number one, you bless the Lord for his gifts. I bless God for God's gifts all around me. That's where David goes starting in verse two. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, all the ways that he blesses you like he forgives all your sins. He's going to talk more about that later and heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. He fills your life with good things so that your youth is renewed like the Eagles.

I did some word study on this verse. There's a lot of fascinating things that we don't have time for, but very quickly, I love this. The Hebrew verb there fulfills, really means to be sated, to be overfed, to be stuffed. It's kind of like how you feel after a great Thanksgiving meal. You just kind of go, Ah, wow, I am stuffed. And what David is saying is there are so many blessings in my life. Man, I am stuffed. You'd say, Really, David? With all that stuff going wrong for him, it's all about what you choose to orient your mind toward.

In November, Adrian Moreno and his great message on Thanksgiving quoted a monk named David Steindl-Rast. He and a filmmaker named Louis Schwartzberg made a video that went viral. Well, he starts by saying in the video, Treat every day as if this was your only day on Earth. And then he says this. If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response through the great gift that this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well. Begin by opening your eyes and be surprised that you have eyes you can open.

That incredible array of colors that is constantly offered to us for pure enjoyment. Look at the sky. We so rarely look at the sky. We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment with clouds coming and going. We just think of the weather and even of the weather we don't think of all the many nuances of weather. We just think of good weather and bad weather. This day right now is unique weather. Maybe a kind that will never exactly in that form come again. The formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same that is right now. Open your eyes, look at that. Look at the faces of people whom you meet. Each one has an incredible story behind their face. A story that you could never fully fathom.

Not only their own story but the story of their ancestors. We all go back so far. And in this present moment, on this day, all the people you meet all that life from generations and from so many places all over the world, flows together and meets you here. Like life-giving water if you only open your heart and drink. Wow, isn't that beautiful? And that is exactly what David is talking about in this verse. God fills your life with enough good things to sate you. No matter what your circumstances, if you open your eyes and notice them, then you'll feel like your youth is being renewed like the Eagles.

When you get reoriented in your mind, you rejoice in the Lord by noticing God's gifts and then second God's mercy. And this is huge. God's mercy because you can't really show other people mercy until you realize how much God has shown you mercy. And you know, think about his writing Psalm 103. David has done a lot he's not very proud of but he reminds himself the Lord revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. What was God's character? The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding, abounding in love.

And you know, I love that this word compassionate is related to the Hebrew root word for womb. Now, why do you think what's the relationship between God's compassion to us and a woman's womb? Well, it's referring to the deep tender love that a mother has for the unborn baby in her womb. You know, right now we are very excited because our daughter Elizabeth is expecting her first baby, a boy, and it is due really any day now. The due date is just a few days from now. And you know what? Elizabeth already loves that little baby so much and he hasn't even been born yet.

That baby hasn't told her that he loves her. That baby hasn't done anything adorable. That baby hasn't performed at a piano recital. That baby hasn't graduated high school. That baby hasn't gotten a job. That baby has not achieved anything, but there is nothing that baby needs to achieve to earn Elizabeth's love. She just loves that baby so much and so do we. And this word means that that is how much God loves you. There's nothing you have to achieve to earn God's love. He just loves you. He cherishes you with love so deep that the only place on earth that we even see a hint of it is the love of a mother for the unborn child in her womb. That's love, unconditional love.

And David goes on, he will not constantly accuse us. You know that voice? Some people think that voice in your brain that is always accusing you. Some people think that voice is God. David says, uh-uh. God does not constantly accuse you nor remain angry all the time forever. He does not punish us for all our sins. He does not deal harshly with us as we deserve for his unfailing love toward those who fear him are in awe of and respect and worship him is as great as the high of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the East is from the West.

In other words, there's no way he will never, you know, unremove our sins from us. Do you get this? Do you feel this? Does this, you know, fill up your cup so that the pressure can be withstood? In 2018 in the journal Interpretation, a man named Ford Roman wrote an article, Forgiveness and Healing in Prison. Now, this is an academic journal. So he starts out talking in a very academic way how from a psychological standpoint, according to research, it's very important for prisoners to technically feel forgiven because it helps them and it reduces recidivism and so on.

But then at the end, he gets very personal with the story. And let me read you a page from his journal article. He says, Several years ago, I met a man in prison who spent two decades on death row. Can you imagine the long years in solitary confinement had taken a toll on his mental health? He was very withdrawn, almost never spoke like many inmates. He never knew his father was always poor, abused as a child, became a drug addict, joined a gang. He killed a man and received a death sentence. He was on the gurney awaiting the lethal injection when the phone rang. The governor reduced his sentence to life in prison without parole.

Imagine that. He became a participant in our small group in one of our meetings. He blurted out. I wrote her a letter. He had written a letter to the widow of the man he killed and she had written back. He pulled the envelope from his pocket and it became apparent. He had not opened it. I thought instantly, he's afraid that she told him to go to hell. He'd been rejected all his life and expected the same from her. Well, the inmate sitting next to him grabbed the envelope, tore it open, pulled out the letter and read it aloud. It said, I forgave you 20 years ago and I have been praying for you every day since. On hearing this, the man wept. We all started weeping, tears of joy. We saw the Holy Spirit in action. Forgiveness became the means for this man to begin to heal and it gave hope to all of us.

Powerful story. But here's the thing. Do you realize that biblically speaking, we are all that man. God forgave us when we were in prison, owing a debt we could not pay our sin debt and then he blasted the prison doors open when Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sin on the cross. When you know you are loved like that, then you can love. When you know you are forgiven like that, then you can forgive no matter what your exterior circumstances. You can rejoice because you've got this inside. You're blessing the Lord for his gifts, for his mercy and then finally to really get reoriented. In times like this, you rejoice in God's sovereignty.

Now sovereignty, that's a pretty fancy word, but basically it just means this. God rules. Watch what David says. The Lord has made the heavens his throne and from there he rules over everything. Everything. When things seem out of control, you can stabilize your soul with the sovereignty of God, the faith that God is ultimately in control, the faith that God will reign forever and ever and will work all things together for good, all things.

Now listen, the sovereignty of God does not mean everything that happens is in God's perfect will because it isn't. Injustice isn't. Riots sure aren't. Mobs aren't. But it means God is a pro at bringing good things out of bad things. Back in Philippians, Paul points this out. He says even his imprisonment has turned out for good because he's been able to share the Gospel with members of the palace guard at Caesar's own household. So even Nero's terrible plans for Paul were already being turned around by God for good because the Lord is on the throne and he rules over everything.

Now think of what everything means. It means every country. It means every party in every country. Right, left and center. This is very important because if we don't see him as really sovereign, really overall, we end up putting our hope in the wrong thing in a party or in a policy or in a president. And I've seen people from every side in probably every country on earth do this. And what happens is it becomes idolatry and idolatry ultimately just leads to despair. Our hope is not in a president. Our hope is not in a party. You know, I'll say something that might scandalize some of you. Our hope is not even in a country. Our hope is in our sovereign Lord alone. And this fills you up when the pressure is on.

I heard a sermon the other day from a pastor who I think summarized so well how people are feeling these days. See if you can relate to his words. He started this way. It is midnight. And everywhere paralyzing fears, Harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Deep clouds of anxiety and depression are in our skies. Threats of violence, economic upheaval. More people are emotionally disturbed today than at any other time in human history. They conclude that life has no meaning. It is midnight.

Those words summarize pretty well the feeling that people are having today, don't they? Well, that was preached in 1967 by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was preaching in East Berlin at the heights of the Cold War. The wall was just going up. People were seeing their country being torn apart. And he preached to encourage these East Berliners. And his message was actually on the sovereignty of God. He went to some verses that day on the book of Revelation and how in the book of Revelation it promises that one day Jesus will return and God's kingdom will be manifest over all the earth in perfection.

That was what his sermon was about. But as I conclude my sermon, I want to read you his conclusion to his sermon. Here's how he wraps up. He says, oh, yes, it is midnight. But our eternal message of hope is that dawn is coming. This is the faith which has kept us going. This is the faith which has enabled us to face death. This is the faith which has given us away when there seem to be no way. This is the faith that let us face our daily crucifixions in the knowledge that God brings resurrection.

This is the faith I commend to you Christians here in Berlin, a living active massive faith that affirms the victory of Jesus Christ over the world, whether it be an Eastern world or a Western world with this faith. We see the day when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah. Do I hear an Amen? If you Amen to that type Amen in the comment section, wherever you are watching this.

And you know what? This is the faith that got Paul and those Philippians through those days of Nero's persecution and this is the faith that can get you through social upheaval and through this pandemic and through your own financial pressures and relational pressures and work pressures and your own anxiety when you fill up the cup with this you can rejoice in the Lord when everything around you is chaos because God is consistent. God is always a gift-giver always merciful and always sovereign. Hallelujah. Let's pray.

Lord in this chaotic world help us rejoice in you always in the goodness of God. You're always good always merciful always bring us the peace of trusting in you alone. And in fact, God, I pray that if anybody is yet to place their trust in you that they would take that step right now with delight and gratitude and we pray again. God grant our nation peace grant our leaders wisdom grant our frontline workers strength and grant all of us the hope of a trust in a good and gracious and sovereign God in Jesus name. We pray Amen.