Series: Goliath Must Fall Week 3: Comfort Must Fall 04/29/18 Introduction and quick review of previous weeks. Series: Goliath Must Fall (Winning the Battle Against Your Giants) Week 1: Overview of the story of David vs. Goliath. The big reveal of week 1 is that we are NOT David is the story. Jesus is David and He is the one who fights are battles. In fact, He is the one who has already defeated the giants in our lives. Week 2: Fear Must Fall The antidote to fear is faith. Week 3: Comfort Must Fall This week we are going to consider the giant of comfort. It can be difficult to think of comfort as a giant something that taunts us and hurts our lives. I mean, usually comfort is a good thing, right? I want to provide a safe environment for my family. Illustration: My family moved to Georgetown in 2002. That was the same year that my wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. We needed something positive to focus on that summer so we decided to move and build a house. We wanted a bigger house and a bigger lot. We also wanted to be in a place where Kendrick could go to school from Pre K to 12 th grade in the same town with the same friends. We wanted to get involved in church. We wanted to develop deep, meaningful friendships. We wanted to get involved in the community. We wanted to sink some deep roots here. We wanted a comfortable life. And all those things are good. I like to kick back and relax at the end of the day, maybe go for a run and then watch my favorite shows on TV or Netflix while eating a good dinner. I like knowing how much money is in the bank and feeling financially secure. I like things to be orderly in my life, not chaotic. I like things to be smooth and to go as planned. I like comfort. The trouble arises when my desire for comfort becomes the dominant theme in my life. If I m not careful, I can allow a relaxation mentality to replace my attentiveness to God s call on my life. Because of this, comfort is perhaps the scariest giant of them all. It s so subtle in its deception. It s the giant that causes us to miss the very best because we have settled for something good. Don t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. John D. Rockefeller
Most of us desire to be comfortable, safe, and secure. Yet comfortableness and obedience often butt heads. Sometimes we forget that life is short. If you are still having trouble with the word comfort, let s consider another word: complacency. Webster s dictionary defines complacency as a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger. It is common to think that complacency is neutral, safe, and harmless, but complacency is really a false safety zone. We are often complacent because we are afraid of change. But ignoring the reality of potential danger is unsafe. Complacency keeps us from necessary changes for healthy living and growth. Another way to say this is that complacency is unhealthy. Illustration: New Life in Christ series at FBG in January. Period of silence from God. Unintentional isolation. Re:generation (recovery program). Not just for alcoholics and drug addicts. A structured, systematic discipleship program. Every needs regeneration because we all who are broken and need healing. As I work the steps of re:gen, I sense God softening my heart and He is speaking to me in new ways that I have not experienced in a long time. It is not comfortable and it will not be easy. But I have a new hope. Stepping out of complacency requires a regular commitment to walk away from your comfort zone toward a place of health. Here are a few specific ways comfort or complacency can become harmful: If we miss a great opportunity because we choose a safer, easier route. If a good thing actually turns out to be harmful or counterproductive over time because it lulls into a false sense of security. If we choose the good thing but miss the God thing. If we buy into the idea that we work hard for a season of life and then we can choose to do whatever we want with the rest. If we slip into thinking it s my life to do with as I please. If my number one factor in deciding what I do is whatever makes me happy. If comfort is sought ahead of everything else, including our desire to be available to God s plans. If we grow accustomed to our sin and fail to confront it and remove it from our lives. That s the danger of comfort. That s why comfort can be such a deadly giant. God began to reveal how I had become complacent in several areas of my life including in my marriage.
No one in Scripture who played a significant role in God s plan ever did so by choosing the easy route, living in ease, or refusing to take risk. Do you remember the Parable of the Rich Fool? Luke 12:16 21, ESV 16 And he told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? 18 And he said, I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry. 20 But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. This man chose the easy, comfortable life and his story ends in complete and utter emptiness. Think about how this might play out in your life. Most all of you in this class are raising kids. What kind of example do you want to be for your kids? Here is what I know, if you are a parent, your kids ARE watching you. Illustration: Call from a friend concerned over a mutual friend s crumbling marriage. Ask yourself does God want my marriage to end in divorce? We know the answer to that question is NO. Then you have to do the hard work of faithfully obeying what scripture says about marriage, especially how a husband should love his wife. You have to be obedient to God and seek a path that will lead to reconciliation. And we hope that reconciliation is the result, but here s the thing, sometimes the difficult path does not always end up like we want. Sometimes the result is still divorce. But you also have an opportunity to set an example for your kids. Do you want them to see a mom and dad who continually make the easy and convenient decisions that potentially could end in bitter emptiness? OR do you want your kids to see a mom and dad who are doing the best they can to be obedient to God s word and follow Jesus even when that means the path to obedience is going to be very challenging or difficult? I know I would rather my daughter see a dad that has done everything within his power to be obedient to God and follow Jesus even when it is hard. Because that path, even if the results aren t always positive, leads to a hope and a reward. What I don t want my daughter to see is a dad that has a history of being disobedient to God and making decisions that are easy, safe, convenient or comfortable. Because that path will ultimately end in utter emptiness. Proverbs 1:32, ESV
32 For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; God isn t calling us to be comfortable, He is calling us to be faithful. Life may be short, but God is big and He knows that Hebrews 11, ESV 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. I don t know about you, but if I can t see the outcome or how things are going to play out, that makes me very uncomfortable. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. The thought of dying is somewhat uncomfortable, but the thought of being murdered sends my discomfort level off the charts. knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. I like to know where I am going, and with GPS apps like Waze, us guys never have to stop and ask for directions. But I guarantee you that if I didn t know where I was going and ended up in a foreign land and had to live in a tent. I m pretty sure that would not be a comfortable situation. And I would probably never use Waze again. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. How many of you had all of your kids while in your 20 s? How many of you had kids in your 30 s? 40 s? Illustration: My gave birth to her last kid at age 40. By that time she had given birth to kids in four consecutive decades. She had me at 18 (1968). She had my first sister when she was 20 (1970). She had my second sister when she was 30 (1980). And she had my brother when she was 40 (1990). Sarah wasn t just the past her child bearing years, SHE WAS 100!!! That s not even comfortable to read about. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, I think that s pretty self explanatory. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. When was the last time you chose to be mistreated over being comfortable?
35... Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated 38 of whom the world was not worthy wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. Nothing about any of that makes you think, ah, comfort! The heroes of faith chose lives of sacrifice and their faith thrived through their discomfort and they please God and their stories ended with God commending them as righteous. Their examples give us enormous hope and motivation that our faith can also thrive during moments of discomfort. The gospel is rooted in a place of discomfort Christ s discomfort. The cross brought pain to Jesus in the same breath it brought freedom to us. We are alive because of Christ s discomfort. Christ endured what was uncomfortable, so we could become the sons and daughters of God. This is our story. What do we say when people ask us what does it mean to be a Christian? It means we put our faith in the work of Jesus. What is the work of Jesus? That he came to earth. He lived. He was crucified. He was resurrected. He ascended into heaven. He sent the Spirit of God and he s now living inside of us. This is the gospel. This is what we believe and it all hinges around a very uncomfortable moment. God moves among his people when they are willing to step out of their comfort zones. The greatest regret any of us will ever know is that of standing before Jesus knowing we lived too safe, too comfortable, too short sighted. I started using a new day planner about a month ago and as part of the layout for daily planning there is a motivational quote on every page. I wanted to share the quotes that were in my planner this week as I was preparing this lesson. Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking. William B. Sprague Don t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning Robert Kiyosaki Don t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do John Wooden
Application: Read Hebrew 11 every day this next week. Meditate on how each of these heroes had to move out of their comfort zones in order to be used by God. Ask God to reveal areas in your life where you have been too comfortable or complacent. Do something that gets you out of our comfort zone. I hope and pray that each of us will have the courage to move out of our comfort zones and be obedient to God s call on our lives. Because Let me pray for us and then we discuss further in our small groups. Confess your giants to a friend Consider joining Re:generation Do one thing every day that scares you. Anonymous Imagine with me for a minute what our lives could look like if we chose to be rigorously honest with ourselves about the giants in our lives? Can you imagine the legacy we could leave our kids if we chose to pursue obedience to God so that we might get the best of what he wants for us rather than settle for easy and convenient just to get what might be good in the moment? Can you imagine the victories we could win in our lives if we remember that we are NOT David in the story of David and Goliath, but that Jesus is David and has already conquered the giants in our lives for us? Can you imagine the impact we could have in our community and in the world with the Gospel if we stepped out of our comfort zones and believed that our faith thrives in discomfort?