Wisdom and the Will (Proverbs 15:13-17)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bibles and go to Proverbs chapter 15. I am very thankful today for our community groups and for people seeking to be missionaries in everyday life. I remember Eric came and said, hey, I'm inviting my friend Parker. I'm going to try to get him to come hang out with our church, hang out with our group.
I was like, is he a Christian? Is he not a Christian? He said, um, he thinks he's a Christian. I'm not so sure. Sweet. We'll see.
Let him come on. You know, we'll be glad to have him and be a part of things. And that's that's our hope. That's what we see so often. If you saw, he said they begin to pressure me to get into a group. It's the best harassment he's ever received in his entire life.
It was to come be around people, to come join us in life and to hopefully come be known and loved by us so that you can know and love Jesus and see that he knows you and loves you. And that's our hope. That's what we talk about all the time. That's one of the reasons why we don't have an overly complex schedule as a church. We want you to go be out in the world as a Christian who loves people, who loves Jesus. We want you to join after work social events so that you can help be a missionary.
We want you to be getting to know your neighbors and hosting barbecues and doing stuff with your group to be on mission so that we can see people come to know Christ. There are people that you know right now who don't know Jesus, but maybe one day we'll all get to gather and celebrate that they've placed their hope in Christ. Not that they've become a good person, but they've been made holy and blameless and above reproach through the work of Jesus. I can testify that Parker is holy and blameless and above reproach through Jesus and that he is personally not a very good person. Just like the rest of the people in our group that we're here, just like the rest of the people in our church that we're here only through the work of Jesus, not through our work.
So we're glad to be able to gather on Sundays to study the Bible together. We're going to be in chapter 15 in the book of Proverbs. We're going to look mostly at 13 through 17. There'll be like the rest of our time in the Proverbs. There'll be other verses that we look at, but this is kind of where we're going to spend most of our time this morning. I want to start by talking to y'all about reading a quote and talking to you a little bit about a guy named Viktor Frankl.
He was an Austrian Jew. He lived in Austria in the lead up to World War II. And in World War II, he got married and nine months later, he and his entire family were taken to a German concentration camp. He would spend the remainder of World War II in a German concentration camp. And he, his wife, his father, his mother, and his brother would all die at the hands of the Nazis in concentration camps. In Auschwitz, where he was for some of his time, they would wake up at 4.30 or 5.30 in the morning.
They would give them some tea or some imitation coffee. That's what they had for breakfast. Then they would work till the middle of the day. Then they would give them some sort of soup or stew. Then they would work again until 7 o'clock at night when they would be given a ration of some bread or some cheese.
Not nearly the amount of calorie intake they needed to work 11 hours a day. Most of the time when they brought in the trains, they would immediately take the females to gas chambers and put the rest to work. Most people there slowly starved. And he lived his time through that. When he was freed over a nine-day period, he wrote a book called The Man's Search for Meaning. And this is a quote from that book.
He says, Everything can be taken from a man but one thing. The last of the human freedoms. To choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances. To choose one's own way. We're going to read another quote from that book later. But we're going to start there.
This idea that he shares and that the Proverbs agree with, which is that you have some control over your attitude. That you have some control over your internal disposition. That you have some control in how you respond to external circumstances. Now, at the simplest, kind of far inside of that, it really is just having a good attitude. Stuff that I tell my six-year-old. When he's upset about something.
I say, yeah, you can't control everything that happens to you. But you can control how you respond. You can control how you act. Well, I'm having a rough day. Yeah, sometimes we have rough days. But you can make it worse.
Or you can make it better. If you talk to your mama like that again, it's going to get worse. That we can choose through our actions and through our attitude how we're going to respond. That's the simplest form of it. Which I will tell you, you can do without Jesus. If you just do that, your life will be better.
It doesn't change your circumstances. But it will make those bad circumstances more bearable. So that's just, we're going to walk through that. That's the whole section of just wisdom. It's helpful. On the other side, when you go further into this, it actually becomes, you become internally unconquerable.
That it goes just from being able to kind of manage your own attitude to actually becoming internally unconquerable. And the reality is we'd all like to be there. So we're going to look at what the Proverbs have to say about this and hopefully grow in this together. So let's pray. God, we ask for help. So that we might capture some of this.
That we might believe some of this. That we might walk this out in light of what you have accomplished for us in the gospel. Our culture doesn't agree with this. And so we pray that you'd help us to listen well. Not as Westerners. As Americans or South Carolinians.
But that we would listen as people who belong to you. And whose story is much bigger and more eternal because of the work of Christ. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Proverbs 15, 13. A lot of times the Proverbs are just one idea.
This one seems like there's a couple of Proverbs in a row that are attacking the same idea. So we're going to work through a couple. But it says this, A glad heart makes a cheerful face. But by the sorrow of the heart, the spirit is crushed. Now at first glance, that's just kind of an obvious observation.
Thanks Solomon, you're so wise. What he said was, if you're happy inside, you'll smile. Wow. But if you're really sad inside, you're really sad inside. That's what it seems like. And so it's like, good.
You've taken this somewhere? Because that's how we're inclined to read this. But I want you to see something. Because even that statement right there is actually countercultural to what we believe. There's part of that statement that you actually, as a good American, don't agree with. So let me help you see it.
A glad heart makes a cheerful face. We're okay with that. Seems true. But by sorrow of heart, the spirit is crushed. You see, we actually are more inclined to think that the problems that we have are not internal but external. That it's actually not what's going on inside of me that crushes my spirit.
It's my parents. It's my job. It's my boss. It's my stepchildren. It's the amount of money I have in my bank account. It's the system.
It's the man. It's capitalism. It's those people who've snuck into our schools and who are indoctrinating our children. Those are the people who are the ones who are like that. We're inclined to think. That's why we read an advice article.
They never respond with, maybe you should change your attitude. They say, maybe you should change your spouse. Maybe you should change your job. Maybe you should change your financial situation. They don't ever respond with, maybe you should be a little tougher. Quit whining.
You're welcome. They don't do that. But there's a reality to this that it's our internal response. It's our internal spirit. That our internal heart, the way we think through the world that affects whether or not we're crushed or not. And there's just part of us that even now is going, yeah, is that really what that's saying?
I don't know if I agree with that. There's Proverbs 18, 14 says this. A man's spirit will endure sickness. But a crushed spirit who can bear. So again, this idea of what crushes the spirit.
Well, this doesn't really tell us, but we know it's not sickness. That sickness in and of itself can't crush a spirit. A spirit can endure sickness, can endure bad circumstances. That if we actually would just take sickness as an idea for bad things happening to us, that there's a reality to, we might can just face whatever comes our way. But if we're internally crushed, who can go on?
Let's keep reading. Proverbs 15, 14. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge. But the mouths of fools feed on folly. So this is, as you have understanding, you continue to seek knowledge.
And fools just feed on folly. They continue to pursue foolishness. So if you're wise, you continue to pursue wisdom. If you're foolish, you continue to pursue foolishness. Verse 15. All the days of the afflicted are evil.
But the cheerful of heart has a continual feast. Now again, part of that, we're inclined to just think, yeah, that makes sense. All the days of the afflicted are evil. The affliction, I actually appreciate that word because it's so broad. That affliction can be sickness. Affliction can be your job.
That you can be afflicted with the attitude of another. That you can be afflicted, but it's this idea that it's very difficult. That things are hard. That stuff is hurting you. That your outside circumstances are attacking you. And so what it says is, all the days of the afflicted are evil.
And we want to say, yes, exactly. And if I could just get unafflicted, I'd be okay. But the follow-up of that proverb turns it on its head. Because if we were going to write this, we would say, all the days of the afflicted are evil. But he who has a continual feast has a cheerful heart.
Because in our reckoning, your circumstances dictate to you your joy. If you have a good marriage, if you have good friends, they're not toxic. If you have good relationships, if you have a good job, if you have a smart boss. Oh, a smart boss, who can find? If you have the right amount of money. If you have a continual feast, you'll have a cheerful heart.
That's not what it says. It says the afflicted days are evil, but those who have a cheerful heart have a continual feast. So it's actually comparing cheerful heart with being afflicted and a continual feast with evil. Meaning that you have some personal responsibility and control over your attitude that can dictate to you what life is like. And the truth is, you've seen this on some people. You've seen drastic examples of both.
Maybe you haven't seen it in yourself. Maybe you have. But you've seen examples of both. Because you've been in school, had a job, played a sport. And you've watched a crowd of people receive bad news. And you've seen some people be absolutely just crushed by it.
Oh, here we go. I knew this was going to happen. This is exactly how it always works. And you've also seen the really annoying person go, we're going to be okay here. It's like, shut up. We are not going to be okay.
We are going to choose to make this way worse. There's a reality to circumstances that keep us, that we want to act like our circumstances have dictated to us how we ought to respond. The reality is most of the time we don't want other people to think this, but we certainly want that to be how things work for us. So if I've had a bad day, I can be mean to my wife, obviously. But if she's had a bad day, she needs to work on her attitude.
But this is a general attitude that we have, that somehow our circumstances have dictated to us our response, rather than our circumstances are what they are and our response gets to be controlled by us. And look at the beautiful part of that. If you can figure out how to have a cheerful heart, you can have a continual feast. Now, if there's anything that Americans like, it's a continual feast. So let's figure out how to have a cheerful heart.
Part of you may be thinking this is unattainable for you, but let's work past that and just understand mentally that if you can attain it, life can be a continual feast. And the reality is there are people who walk through life continually afflicted and their days are evil. And there are people who walk through life with a cheerful heart and their days are a continual feast. And it doesn't have to do with what the days throw at them because often they're thrown, the same thing's thrown at them. It has to do with how we respond. That's actually extremely encouraging.
Because your joy level does not have to be set on circumstance. That's amazingly encouraging. Because we're tempted to want it to be set on circumstance. But the reality is there's hope here. So let's look at this.
I want to show you a couple different ways to try to think about this. There's a Jewish rabbi. He was also a business leader and kind of a political leader. His name was Edwin Friedman. I do not give my wholesale endorsement of him because he says some absolutely crazy things. But he does say some helpful things and he has an illustration that I think is helpful.
He says imagine that a lot of times life is like... He says an amplifier, but we're going to just use a radio. Life's like a radio with three knobs. One knob is physical reality. Circumstance. The actual reality of what is going on.
There's physical reality to your life. You only have a certain amount of money. You only have a certain amount of handsome strapped around your face. Like you've only got what you got. The second one is dumb luck. Not a Christian concept.
We'll get there. But this is what he says. Dumb luck. And the third one is the response of the organism. That's you. You're an organism.
That's how you respond. Now, he says organism because he applies this to political parties. He applies this to businesses, that sort of thing. Now, he says there are times... Oh, you're only allowed to touch the response of the organism. That's the only knob you're allowed to mess with.
The other two knobs just get set for you. You can only touch the response knob. There are times when physical reality and dumb luck are turned up so high that it doesn't matter what you do with your response. The results are going to be what they are. He says an example of this would be if we were all in an airplane and it broke open and we were flying through the air now. Un-tethered.
Unkept. One of you can smile. One of you can sing. One of you can weep. I can flap my arms like a bird. Physical reality and dumb luck are turned up so high that it really doesn't matter.
Within a few seconds, we're all going to reach the same conclusion. But he says most of the time that's not true. Most of the time, physical reality and dumb luck aren't turned up so high that your response doesn't matter. And he says often the only thing that makes a difference is the response of the organism. That's the one thing that's actually the variable that will adjust something. And it's the one thing that you're allowed to touch.
It's a little bit like growing up in your dad's house. You can't touch the thermostat, but you can put a sweater on. That's how it works. If you only focus on physical reality and dumb luck, if that's all you can talk about, if that's all you tell your group about, if that's all you tell your therapist about, if that's all you think about, if that's all you write in your pain journal about, things won't get better. Because you're not allowed to touch those knobs. You're only allowed to touch how you respond, how you think about it, how you get out of it, how you work your head around it.
Proverbs 14.30 says this, and I think it applies to the same idea. It says, A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot. I think a life filled with envy is us looking at those two knobs and just wishing we could touch them and wishing that something had been different. And if I had just had this workout in life, if I had just grown up with those parents, if I had just been able to get into that school, if I had just been able to keep that job, if I had just kept that boss or not had this boss, if I just had that spouse, I wish that life had worked out this way. It's just us staring at the knobs we can't control.
I wish this had happened. I wish I had that relationship. I wish that my life had been like that. I wish I was a little bit taller. I wish I was a baller. I wish I had a girl look good.
I would call her. We can sit all we want and stare at the knobs we can't control and they will not help us. Or we can think about the one thing that we are able to grab a hold of and respond better. This isn't just the power of positive thinking. It's not going to fix everything in life. Some of your circumstances aren't going to change.
But you can make them better or worse. There's a scene in the office where they look at the boss, Michael Scott, who we use very often in the Proverbs because he's a fool. They say to him, don't make this any harder than it has to be. And then it cuts to him by himself looking directly in the camera and he goes, I'm going to make this way harder than it has to be. The truth is you do that. Something happens and you think.
You look at the camera of your life and go, I'm about to make this way harder than it has to be. My son, I try to help him think about his life, frame things up for him. It was school day. It was early in the morning. He was excited. He had put jelly beans in an Easter egg and he had hidden it.
Then in the morning he had opened his jelly beans to look at his jelly beans. I think he was going to eat his jelly beans. He put them back in the Easter egg. When he went back to open his jelly beans again after breakfast, there were four jelly beans, but there had been five jelly beans. This is a huge problem. Jesus tells the parable of the woman with the lost coin.
Well, I had the son with the lost jelly bean. He was turning the house upside down trying to find this jelly bean. Well, the clock's ticking because we've already gotten ready for school. We've already had breakfast. We only got so much hunt for jelly bean time before we got to go to school. He's distraught.
I mean, it's messed him up. I'm trying to help him find it. Finally, it's like we've got to get in the car and he's just like, you know, you know that look you get when you've lost your jelly bean. He had that. And we get in the truck. We only have a few minutes between us and the school and I'm trying to help not kick him out the door.
Like, just his day was not starting off well and I didn't want it to continue. So I'm trying to help him get out of it. So at first I was like, man, I'm sorry. That's rough. It is. I mean, that's, you know, one-fifth of his wealth gone.
It's a tough day. I'm sorry. Trying to help him, you know. And then I turned to, like, consoling wasn't helping. It was almost like it was adding to it because he's like, you're right, I should feel terrible. And I was like, all right, but you've got to buck up, kid.
But it's just a jelly bean, you know. I tried to be a little intense with him. That wasn't working. So we're just riding and I'm trying to think, like, how do I help him reframe his head? You know, how to help him learn to, like. And so we're just riding.
We've got about a minute left. We're pulling in the car line to drop him off. And I said, I said, are you tough? Something we talk about. I'm trying to help him learn that he can mentally control how he responds to physical things as well, you know. And, you know.
I said, like, you know, like a superhero, you know how, like, they're tough, you know. I said, but you know how superheroes have a weakness? Hmm? I said, I think I've figured out yours. I mean, this, he found a weakness. He's like, well, you know, he's a superhero now in his head and he's trying to think through being tough and he doesn't have any weaknesses.
I said, I think you might be like a superhero. I think I could hit you with a baseball bat and you'd bounce back. And he's, you know. I think I could shoot you with a missile. I know. But I found your weakness.
I found your kryptonite. He said, you know, looking at him like, what is it? He said, where is, what is it? You know, I'll cover it with a shield. It's one jelly bean. He just straightened up and stared at me.
He said, not a lot of jelly beans. Not five jelly beans. One jelly bean. That's your weakness. It'll crush you. All I got to do, you're like Captain America.
If I gave you a jelly bean and then took the jelly bean away, it turned into dust. And he was like, no. You know, like, I'm not weak. A jelly bean won't take me down. I was like, no, you said it destroyed your whole day. You said it ruined everything.
You said that jelly bean was the one thing that kept you sane and now everything's going. No, I'm not. No, huh? He hopped out of the car like, you know. Ain't no jelly bean going to beat me up. I'm trying to reframe for him.
What's your weakness? Extra paperwork? Traffic. How you thought a situation was going to go and then how your spouse actually responded. Your roommate and the dishes in the sink. What is it?
What's your kryptonite? What's the thing that absolutely slays you and you have no choice but to respond this way? They forced your hand. See, there's a reality to we have control how we respond to circumstances. We're going to work on a pool. And we can make life better or worse.
I learned this working on swim pools very, very distinctly. Multiple summers throughout all of high school working on swimming pools. The truth was I would go work on a pool. Sometimes it worked out well. It was nice. There were some times when you'd go to a job and you knew I was going to get paid this much.
It was going to take this long. Nice. And then something would break. And now I'm still only going to get paid this much, but I'm going to work a lot longer. And there were times where things would break and I would have to decide, am I going to do this manually or am I going to go ride back to the store, which is an hour away to get the stuff I need to actually fix it? Or am I going to do the thing that takes forever and peels all the skin off my arm as I sit and just have to fix this thing?
And oftentimes I realized that the only thing I can control was I knew I was going to be there. I knew I was going to have to fix the thing. I knew I couldn't leave until I got fixed. I knew the amount of money I was going to get was set. Everything was set. I was going to be in the sun.
Everything. I could make those next two hours way longer by feeling sorry for myself, by being really upset, by thinking through that other people wouldn't have to deal with this. Or I could take a deep breath, listen to some music, and realize that all of the things I was going to have to do were the same. The only thing I could control was my attitude and I could make it a lot better if I had a better attitude. And the truth is you get to do that too. You get the news at work, you're going to have to stay late.
Well, you're going to have to stay late. You're going to make it better or worse. Your kids spill stuff all over the floor. You're going to make it better or worse. We get to choose. And that's actually really encouraging.
But it gets better. It's beyond just attitude control that makes your day better. Take that. Use that. If you don't know Jesus, it's a gift to you. You don't have to have Jesus to change your attitude.
He helps, but you don't have to have him. But if you want to be internally unconquerable, it goes further. He says this in verse 16. Now we'll read verse 16 and 17. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
You can have good circumstances without the Lord, without love, or you can have terrible circumstances with the Lord and with love, and it's better to have love and it's better to have the Lord. So it's not just circumstances that set your life, joy, and hope. And this actually, because it's now based not just in circumstances, but based in the Lord and his love for us, may I offer you an anchor for your joy rather than a kite. So many of us, our happiness is on a kite. Is it a good day for it? Is there a nice breeze blowing in the right direction?
Everything's good. Blown too hard? Not blowing it all? It's a mess. You ever try to fly a kite when it wasn't the right weather? It's the most aggravating thing?
I did this for like an hour with my boys one time. Something's wrong with the kite or something's wrong with me, but it wasn't working. But some of us have our hope tied to a kite. It's this. But we can actually have it anchored in the Lord so that it's untouchable, so that your joy level, your response to things, doesn't have to be circumstantial.
It doesn't whip around with the wind. See, this moves now from good advice to good news. That you actually, if you place your faith in Jesus, that you can have some things eternally held for you through the work of Christ that are true eternally and that you belong to Him. That's what Jesus came to die for sinners so that all who have faith in Him might be covered by His work and made holy and blameless and above reproach through the work of Christ and be anchored in Him so that we might, even if circumstances are bad, have Him. And if we have Him, then we have everything. And so that we have something to lean into in the midst of bad circumstances to remind us that not only can I control my attitude, but I have hope in Christ.
So I've got three things for us to do coming out of this. Fight for contentment. It's one of the best ways to work on your attitude is to fight for contentment. A tranquil heart brings life. An envious heart rots your bones. If you think things should be better, and that's what you tell yourself all the time, this should have worked out differently, it should be better.
The truth is, at any given moment in life, you can look at what's good or you can look at what's bad. That's up to you. You can show up from work. I can walk in the door from work and I can look at what's good or what's bad in my house. I can walk in because my wife's been playing with the kids and they've been having fun and the house is chaos. And I can tell myself, look at how terrible this house looks.
They should have been doing this. She should have done that. What's she been doing all day? I can find ten things I want to be mad about. I can probably find twenty if you give me enough time. But the reality is, I can also come in and find ten things to be happy about.
Some of you walk in the door, the house is a mess, your spouse has been playing with the kids and having fun with them and you complain that the dishes aren't done. The next day you walk in, the house is spotless but the kid's playing video games and you say, did y'all even go outside today? You're just picking the thing to be mad about instead of finding the thing to be happy about. You can right now make a list on the way home of ten things you like about your spouse, ten things you like about your group, ten things you like about this church, twenty-five things that you loved about this sermon.
Some of you this whole time have been going, I wish Spencer was preaching and you've ruined a wonderful sermon for your bad attitude. But you can do this. You can fight for contentment. You can tell yourself things you like about your house, you like about your drive to work, you like about your job, or you can tell yourself all the things you hate about it and one of those gives life to your flesh and one of them rots your bones. And if you feel a little rotted out, it's quite possible that you're walking around doing that to yourself. Grab the knob you can control.
So fight for contentment. Control your response. It's the one thing you can control. So in a situation, start learning what's outside of my control. That's not the thing to focus on. What's inside of my control?
That's the thing to focus on. That's the thing for me to think through and decide how I'm going to respond, how I'm going to act, what I'm going to do, how I'm going to speak, how I'm going to think, what I'm going to tell myself. I think about this periodically. Paul and Silas in the book of Acts get arrested, beaten, put in jail, and then we're told that they're praying and singing hymns. Now if I asked you, good Christian, can Christians sing in prison?
Yes. Can we find joy in the midst of difficult circumstances? Yes. Can we have an anchor of hope in the midst of a concentration camp? Yes. But we can't even handle traffic.
Well, I'm not in prison. I'll sing when I get to prison. But the house is a mess. Like it's like, what? We can control how we respond. We have an anchor that helps us respond.
I want to read this quote from Viktor Frankl. He says this. He says, Life in a concentration camp exposes your soul's foundation. Only a few of the prisoners were able to keep their inner liberty and inner strength. Life only has meaning in any circumstances if we have a hope that neither suffering, circumstances, nor death itself can destroy. Now if you belong to Jesus, you have a hope that neither suffering, nor circumstances, nor death itself can destroy.
You have an anchor for your joy, for your life, for your hope, not a kite. So that you can respond with joy in the midst of anything and you can respond with hope in the midst of anything and you can control your attitude in the midst of anything. Nobody has forced your hand. Third thing. So first, fight for contentment.
Control your response. Remember the truth. Another way to say this would be to remember good news. Proverbs 12, 25, anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. That's just a general truth about talking to each other, about how good news works, but also we have the ultimate capital G, capital N, good news in Christ. The ultimate capital G, capital W, good word in Christ.
Proverbs 15, 30, the light of the eyes rejoices the heart. I mean, the light of the eyes is the life that the Lord gives us the ability to see. But it's like the inner light of the eyes. And good news refreshes the bones. We have the good news in Christ. Proverbs 16, 24, gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
We have the gracious words spoken to us by God the Father through the work of Christ. Capital G, capital W, gracious words spoken to us. Remember what's true. Let's look at our radio again. Physical reality, dumb luck, response of the organism. If you don't belong to Jesus, run with that.
I would like to invite you though to place your faith in Jesus and use this next one which is if you belong to Jesus it looks like this. Physical reality, truth of the gospel, response of the organism. Can I offer you some really good news? You're still not allowed to touch that second knob. Your sin doesn't let you grab it. Your depression doesn't let you grab it.
What the enemy's telling you doesn't let you grab it. Jesus Christ has sealed that forever and ever and ever and ever and he has spoken truth to you that if you belong to him you belong and you are redeemed and you are forgiven and you are given hope that is unassailable. You are internally unconquerable because through Christ you are eternally unconquerable. You still get to troll how you respond. Are you going to believe that? Are you going to remind yourself of that?
Are you going to join a group and tell people that? Remind them of that? Are you going to join a group and listen when other people remind you of that? This is one of the reasons why we need to be around other believers so that you can say something that's completely stupid and they can say to you that's not true. You tell yourself completely stupid lies all the time. You need to get around a group and say them out loud so the people who love Jesus can go what have you been telling yourself?
No. I love you so I want to punch you. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. That's not true for you not if you belong to Jesus. If you don't belong to Jesus run with that. You'll be crushed by your sin.
You'll be destroyed. You're unlovable. You've been unworthy. But if you belong to Jesus you've been made lovable. You've been made worthy through the work of Christ and you are forever sealed in that. You are holy and blameless and above reproach.
You are like a bride presented to Christ without a spot or blemish or any such thing that we belong and that we're loved and that we're welcomed and we don't get to mess with that. Some of you say well I'm depressed. Yeah okay we'll put that on the physical reality knob. You can't control that. You wake up feel like you have no energy. You feel down.
You can't go you know what I'm just going to choose happy today. Sometimes that doesn't work. But you actually do get to choose how you respond. You're going to stare at the depression knob and just say well you're in charge. Are you going to look at the truth of the gospel? You're going to get out of bed?
You're going to get in some sunlight? You're going to get around some people? You're going to say I'm not going to let my feelings and emotions dictate to me what life is. I can't fully control them but I can control how I respond. I don't have to believe all that. Guys this is good news.
And if you belong to Jesus it's eternally good news. Some of you right now are in some really bad situations but you can make them better. You can choose to be afflicted or you can have a continual feast as we choose to align ourselves with who Jesus is and what he's done for us. The band is going to come back up. We're going to sing. I want to say one more thing to those who do have physical depression that you just feel like it's outside of your control.
I want to tell you yeah sometimes it is. Your response isn't. There's places in the Psalms all the time where he says bless the Lord oh my soul. He talks to his soul. Bless the Lord oh my soul. He says forget not all his benefits.
Some of you need to write down we actually have some of these printed up. We will give you one but different passages of scripture that tell you things that are true about you and Jesus. Some of you need to write down things. You walk around telling yourselves lies all the time. I'm the worst. I'm unlovable.
Everybody hates me. They don't even notice when I'm not around. They wish I wasn't around. It's like your radio is turned up too much but you're not grabbing the one knob you have control over and you're not listening to the part where Jesus is coming through the frequency that he's on where he says you are loved. You are welcome. You do have hope.
You do have certainty. You do have security. If you belong to Jesus the absolute worst circumstances that could ever happen to you can happen to you. You're eternally secure. One of the ways we say this on Sundays sometimes is Jesus is alive tell your face. There's hope in Christ so there's joy for us.
That's actually one of the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control that he gives us these things through his work not ours that we get to choose good things because he's offered them to us in Christ that no you don't deserve them but Jesus is great and we praise his glorious grace. So quit looking at the undeserving knob. Quit looking at the circumstance knob and start looking at the king of kings and start responding as someone who's been redeemed. And then tell your face. Let's pray.
God we thank you so much that you redeem that we can run to you in the midst of difficulty that we can run to you in the midst of hurt that we can run to you in the midst of pain that you have forever set reality for us through the work of Christ. Lord we pray for those who are not in Christ that they would come to you that they would repent of sin that they would ask for forgiveness that they would be covered by the grace of Christ. And we pray Lord that we would quit looking at the things we can't control that we would quit focusing on all the things that are negative that we would quit looking at the things that are difficult difficult and hard and quit acting as if circumstance sets our hearts posture rather than you through the power of your spirit and our ability to respond. And may by your grace we respond well.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.