Utterly Helpless

01/01/2007

Utterly helpless…sounds pretty hopeless, doesn’t it?
What a way to start a New Year’s message…
Where do we go from there?

STRAIGHT TO THE TOP!

Happy New Year 2007!

Paul writes in Romans 5:6, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” I was utterly helpless last night, and I could have used a special kind of help as we rang in the New Year with our kids and grandkids. It was a night of game playing and good food eating. It was a time for laughter and celebrating. It was a time that showed who had the best skills in the different games we chose, and my, how those skills varied!

Last night distinctly pointed out some of the very things I was reading about in Romans this morning, while starting the New Year in a part of God’s Word that talks clearly about how utterly helpless we are when we try to be what we are not--and how totally capable God is in making us right in His sight because of what His Son, Jesus Christ, died to give all of us!

“We are made right with God when we believe that
Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.”
Romans 3:25b (NLT)

Last night, I was not right! I couldn’t even begin to be right as we played the game, “Scene it.”—a game full of movie trivia of which I have very little knowledge. From past experience, I know it’s always best to have Jim on my team when playing these games because he has a head full of knowledge that I am lacking. I’m so bad at this game that when the time came that I did have an answer, I got so excited that I shouted it out and then got laughed at because it wasn’t even my team’s turn! I may have been right, but it was at the wrong moment, so in that, I even fell short.

“For all have sinned; all fall
short of God’s glorious standard.
Yet now God in his gracious kindness
declares us not guilty. He has done
this through Christ Jesus, who has freed
us by taking away our sins.” Romans 3:23-24 (NLT)

You may be thinking, this is not even right Diane, don’t go comparing God’s Holy Word about Jesus making us right in His sight, with some simple game you played. How can you even hold the two up to the same light and come up with any likeness between the two? Well, I believe that God’s desire is for us to understand His Word, and the simplicity of what He is telling us in the Scriptures, in whatever way He brings clarity to it for us--and in reading this morning about our utter helplessness without Him, and being made right through Jesus Christ, and God’s glorious standard in all of it, it was being made very clear to me that we cannot be something we are not. We can’t be good at games in which we don’t possess the skills to compete, anymore than we can be good enough to make our way into Heaven by our own efforts…try as we might! We can spend our whole lives attempting this impossible feat, but in the end, we will lose the game of life if we are not willing to depend on the One who knows the answers--the One who paved the way Home by covering all our mistakes in His blood.

Jesus Christ is the Master of this game called Life. He has all the knowledge we will ever need, and He is willing to provide it to us if we will simply call upon Him in our utter helplessness. The problem is we get fooled in our thinking because there are things we are very good at, all of us, and we can get puffed up. We think that if we are good at this thing, or that thing, we can probably devise some scheme or drum up some special effort that will make us good enough to slide through the gates of Heaven in the same way, with our own blood, sweat and tears…but it will never happen. We will fall short…like it or not, it’s guaranteed.

“But no, you won’t listen. So you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself because of your stubbornness…there is going to come a day of judgment when God, the just judge of all the world, will judge all people according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who persist in doing what is good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves…” Romans 2:5,6,7,8 (NLT)

Our Lord is the One who will decide the winners in this game. In fact, it has already been decided and now all we have to decide is do we want to be on the winning team? We have to decide who has the answers we need--and then follow that person--and that person in the game of life is Jesus Christ. We can mistakenly read this Scripture above in Romans and see the, “what they have done” and the “persist in doing what is good” part, and we can start to think we have a shot at it in our own strength, and with our own abilities. Perhaps we can do all the “good things” that we think God would like us to do, and make our way to Heaven that way. But to finish out what Paul is writing here, we have to include the “seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers” part. That’s the looking to Jesus part, plain and simple. God calls that part “good.” God’s wrath will be “on those who live for themselves.” Our Father doesn’t want the good stuff that we decide is good--He wants our hearts—hearts that seek after His glory and honor and immortality.

We’re all good at some things in this life. We have all been given gifts, and that’s a very cool thing. It wouldn’t be much fun if we didn’t have areas in which we excel, areas in which God has given us special abilities. But there will always be those times when we’ll find ourselves in an utterly helpless situation, and we need to remember that we can draw strength from the fact that God will never leave us alone there, even if, and especially when, we find we’re totally lacking. We can use those times to help us to remember that our lives are not dependant on our skillfulness. God’s Word tells us that those times “help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation.” Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)

Confidence is given a bad rap sometimes. In this world, it can have the shadow hanging over it of pridefulness, which of course, God detests. But when that confidence is based on God’s promises to us, when it is experienced in the spiritual light of all the Jesus died to give us, it can be a glorious thing! “For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life.” (Romans 5:10 NLT)

We can stand fully confident in our friendship with God because of Jesus Christ. We can walk confidently through life meeting whatever challenge we are faced with, not because of what we know and what we are skillful at, but because of Who we know. When we know the character of God, when we call Him our Friend, when we know what He has promised us in His Word…we are learning how the game of life works.

I knew going into the movie game we were playing on New Year’s Eve that I had a good partner--just as Jim knew he probably wasn’t going to get much help out of me, but if he should ever needed a typist… Earlier in the evening, my granddaughter had brought up her Sponge Bob typing game on the computer screen for me to try. I may not know what character played what role in what 1937 war movie, but if you give me his name, I can probably type it faster than most!

The Sponge Bob game is a great way to teach children, or anyone really, how to improve their keyboarding skills. I learned to type years ago on a manual typewriter, which is not such a great thing since I now work on a keyboard. I am very heavy handed on it. It’s a hard habit to break, as I try to type lightly now that that amount of force is not needed. I will probably always be a “heavy” typist, but that does not make me slow after taking courses in high school, and also at a business college, improving my typing skills for a future career. Perhaps this is it…writing as I do today!

It was fun as the family gathered around the computer screen, knowing that so far the top speed in the room for words-per-minute was in the 20’s. I tried out the different games and found the one I liked best, and then began to race across the keyboard seeing just how fast I could go. After a number of tries, I topped out at 111 words per minute in the Snail Race game! As I played it over and over, I would click “replay” and try it again when I saw I was only in the 70-80 words per minute range--that wasn’t even worth wasting my time over. I left the game knowing it would take some time before anyone beat my record for that day, and I was safely the family champion on my little granddaughter’s Sponge Bob game! I think God was helping to heal the wounds that would be inflicted later at my complete ineptitude with the movie game!

No matter how hard anyone in the room might have tried to type over 100 words per minute, without a miracle of God, it would not have happened. Just as no matter how hard I tried to figure out the answers to the questions about the movies, it just wasn’t happening. I couldn’t be something I wasn’t, something that wasn’t inside of me…no one can, no matter how much effort we give it--and yet we try to do that when it comes to the game of life.

“So if you claim that God’s promise is for those who obey God’s law and think they are ‘good enough’ in God’s sight,
then you are saying that faith is useless.”
Romans 4:14 (NLT)

I knew going into the typing game that it was something I could excel at. I wasn’t calling out to anyone for help on this one, just let me at it; I’ll show you what I can do. I also knew going into the movie game that I was going to be pretty useless, and that I would need someone to save me from my utter helplessness in movie trivia. In the same way, that’s why it’s easier most times for those who seem so completely lost in this world, to see their need for a Savior. When our lives are really messed up, we see our helplessness, our sin…it’s right out there, front and center in the life we’re living. We don’t need it to be pointed out to us when we’re stealing, or committing adultery. Perhaps greed and envy can be a bit hidden from our sight, but there’s no question when someone has committed murder that it’s wrong. “…God’s law is written within them, for their own consciences either accuse them or tell them they are doing what is right.”

But, when someone is a quote, unquote, good person…we can be farther from God than a murderer on death row whose sin is clearly seen. The murderer has already been accused, tried and convicted of their heinous crime, or even if they haven’t been caught yet, they know murder is wrong. They can run and hide from the law, but they can’t hide from what they know is quite obvious in their own heart.

When we’re a “good person,” on the other hand, we can be so very lost in our own standards of goodness that we see no need for a Savior. When we’re very good at the game of life, when we know the rules and we follow them pretty well with just a few slip ups here and there—ones that can probably be quickly swept under the carpet or stuck in the back closet of life somewhere--we can appear for all intents and purposes, to be right with God and the world as a whole. When our family is happy, our marriage is still together, our home is beautiful, our cars are nice, our job is steady, our income is good, and the respect from those around us is adequate enough to be at peace, what more could we need?

I wasn’t too far along in the “game of life,” when this could have described me. I say, could have, because I hadn’t played the game long enough to be married, to have a job, to own a home, and all that I’ve described above. What I did have, was a decent heart, I guess you could say. I was a good teenager, not getting into much trouble, not causing my parents many headaches, doing the things I thought a “good person” should do—but I knew something was missing. Life seemed so empty and meaningless, even to my young heart. I thought there had to be something more than what I was experiencing in life than to just be good, to live and to die, without anything being beyond that. So, through exposure to a good church, Sunday after Sunday, I gave my heart away to a God I didn’t know, hoping He could make some sense of the “game of life” I was playing…a game I was pretty good at but didn’t see much point in. Was there anything to gain? I finally found that what I was missing was what God was offering. When I joined His team, I discovered what the actual prize was…a forgiven life that is eternal!

“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose sin is no longer counted against them by the Lord.” Romans 4:7-8 (NLT)

When we give our hearts to God, it no longer matters how good we are at playing the game! It no longer matters how many times we mistakenly break the rules, because God always welcomes us back into the game so we can start again. He says, “I’m here for you. I love you. I don’t care how terrible you are at this, and I’m not surprised at all how little you know. Don’t worry about it; I still want you on My team and I will carry the weight of it all for you! You’re awesome! You’re just who I designed you to be! Your only job is to know Me, and I will do the rest!”

“What were his (Abraham’s) experiences concerning this question of being saved by faith? Was it because of his good deeds that God accepted him? If so, he would have had something to boast about. But from God’s point of view Abraham had no basis at all for pride. For the Scriptures tell us, ‘Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous.’” Romans 4:1-3 (NLT)

When we’re good at something we don’t need a whole lot of help to succeed, and we can be quick to pat ourselves on the back and give ourselves an “atta boy!” I was guilty of that with the typing game…I knew it would be easy for me, but what I needed to remember was Who gave me the eyes to see it, the fingers to type it, the mind I used to play it, the health to be alive, and the opportunity to even be with my family on that day. Our Father in Heaven provides it all.

The journey we are on, the life we live, all the things we enjoy—they come from God. He watches over every single day we live, from the day we are born until the day we die. We are brought into this world to know Him and to love Him, and to love others as we love ourselves. From that solid foundation springs a life of clear direction and of focus--one that leads us Home. Without that foundation, we will never be fully satisfied with any other reason for being here.

During the Christmas season, I noticed a precious child of God in our church lobby. It seemed she was waiting there during the service with what looked to be her grandfather who was tending to her. She sat in a wheelchair, and was clearly disabled. She viewed the world through thick-lenses that sat upon her nose, and it seemed her only way of speaking was through the sign language she used with hands and limbs that tended to have a mind of their own. That she was loved, was without question—it was clear just from the look on her grandfather’s face and the way he bent his head towards hers and held it there in their own special embrace from time to time, that this child knew great love.

Why is such a sweet child not saved from this circumstance of life when our mighty God is more than able to heal? I thought of how awesome it would have been to have Jesus appear and touch this child, calling her out of her wheelchair onto sturdy legs. To see Him touch her lips, and then watch as she was able to speak words that her family longed to hear. He could clear up any problems she might have in processing thoughts and actions…He could if He chose to…

I wondered, what is this child’s reason for being…? Only God can know the answer to such ponderings, but I believe that maybe this child knows our Lord better than we ever will in the able-bodied lives we live. Maybe in all our self-sufficiency, in our trying to be good enough, in our God-given strength and abilities, so many miss what is most precious…the need for a Savior.

This child knows nothing but dependence. In turn, it seems we know nothing but independence, which we are called to give up if we are ever to have the full life that Jesus died to give us. This child was born utterly helpless, and knows no other way than to accept the love offered to her. So many times we push that same love away in our independence. This child does not carry the weight of the world on her shoulders, she does not have a list of to do’s each day, she does not worry about what tomorrow may bring and how she will take care of any problems that might arise…she lives each day just being the person God created her to be. I wonder, do we?

This child is a person that we may see as disabled, but one that God sees as fully able, because He is able, and He provides everything she needs… Our Lord will do that for us if we will only invite Him to be our Caretaker. If we will only open our eyes to Him long enough to see how clearly disabled we are in and of ourselves, and how much we can benefit from His loving care.

We can try to be a good person, but Jesus didn’t die for good people, He died for sinners. When we were utterly helpless, He came to help us. In all our wrongs, He’ll make us right. In all our mistakes, He’ll be our Correction. In all our filth, He’ll wash us clean with His blood. When we were still His enemy, He called us to be His friend. We can seemingly be excelling at being a good person, and seemingly be winning at this game of life, but when we get to judgment day we will find out that we had all the wrong answers, and we will lose if we don’t know Jesus. Even though the world seems to be winning, and God seems to be falling farther and farther behind in the game as His words are taken out of the courthouses, and His conversations with us are taken out of schools, and His Son is taken out of Christmas…we need not fear because, we, the admitting sinners, win this one!

My friend, who was just about to cross over into the bliss of Heaven, looked at me from her hospital bed and said, “I am a sinner.” I replied, “You are forgiven.” What an awesome promise of God-- when we finally acknowledge the fact that we can’t be good enough, that we have made mistakes, that we need some help in the game…we have a Friend that we can call on Who will make all things right.

“It is clear, then, that God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based on obedience to God’s law, but on the new relationship with God that comes by faith.” Romans 4:13 (NLT)

A child in a wheelchair, unable to speak audibly, unable to see clearly, unable to be obedient to anything other than relinquishing any control she has up to those who love her, perhaps is blessed beyond measure because her life is all about just being here and being loved and going Home when that time comes. She cannot be what she is not, so she doesn’t even try. We are not called to be anything we are not either, we are simply called to be God’s child, to love Him and to submit our lives to Him and quit trying to be good enough to win the game!

…our acquittal is not based on our good deeds.
It is based on our faith… Romans 3:27 (NLT)

Let this be a year of faith. Let this be the year when we give it all up to our Lord, when we call “uncle” and let it be known that without a Savior we are not good enough, skilled enough, strong enough, capable enough, wise enough, bold enough, or whatever else it seems we have to offer, to even attempt this life on our own. Jesus doesn’t expect us to win this one, because He already did.

It’s our move…will it be towards Him?

Happy New Year!

Diane