Rev. Joan Pell Sierra Pines United Methodist Church Sermon: 1/22/2017 Sermon Series: Half Truths Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:13, Psalm 46:1-2 God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle NOTE: This sermon is mainly a summary of the ideas in Chapter 3 of the book by Adam Hamilton, Half Truths. God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle. Has anyone ever said that to you? Sometimes we say it to someone who seems to be juggling a lot of different activities at the same time. Many years ago, when my twins were born, it was hard work and I was constantly exhausted. It was not uncommon for them both to be screaming at the same time and it was heart-wrenching deciding who to pick up and deal with first. Folk often said to me God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle. And I admit it did spur me on and I would think, alright, I can do this and praise the Lord they weren t triplets! At other times, though, it just made me feel a failure. The other common phrase was I don t know how you do it. I could never do that. And I would think, I don t know how I do it either, but I do it because I have to and I have no choice in the matter. Don t get me wrong I loved them soooo much and wouldn t have had it any other way, but the best response as far as I was concerned was an offer of help. We don t just say God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle for the more trivial trials. We also use it as a means of encouragement for someone going through a really tough time as a way of encouraging them to keep going, to reassure them that they will make it through. Therapists offices though are made up of people who have been given more than they can handle. towards God. God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle is another one of those Half-Truths, a statement that we make that is not quite the whole truth and needs some better nuancing. Using it can hurt people too and lead people to conclusions about God that can push people away from faith rather than drawing them This sermon series is based on book by Rev. Adam Hamilton from the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in the Kansas City area. So, what does scripture say about how much God gives us to handle? We are going to listen to Paul s statement to the Corinthians and then to what the Psalmist says. -1-
<1 Corinthians 10:13 CEB> 13 No temptation has seized you that isn t common for people. But God is faithful. He won t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it. <Psalm 46:1-2 NRSV> 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; When people cite our cliché for today God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle it is usually the reading from Corinthians that we heard that is cited to back it up. 13 No temptation has seized you that isn t common for people. But God is faithful. He won t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it. It gets paraphrased as God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle. But is that an accurate paraphrase? The Word we see translated as TEMPTED can mean TESTED. If we go with the TESTED translation, then perhaps our cliché is a good paraphrase. But if we look at the context of this verse, look at the surrounding verses, then we can see that Paul is talking about sexual immorality and idolatry, not trials and hardships. So TEMPTATION is the better translation. Paul s newly converted Christians were living in a location that we know had a lot of drunkenness, idol worship and temple prostitutes. They were surrounded by sexual immorality. It was very tempting to go back to their former ways. So, the verse we read was all about self-discipline in the face of temptation. If we look at the last part of the verse, we can see that Paul was telling the Corinthians that God would help them when they were tempted. God will always supply a way out of temptation. This passage is not about adversity and difficult circumstances, it is all about God not allowing us to be tempted beyond our abilities since God will always give us a way out. Sooner or later, temptation always comes our way. And it s not easy to resist sometimes, even when we know there s a way out the situation, we don t always take it. What is your biggest temptation? Food? Eating the whole bar of chocolate or pack of cookies? Alcohol? Something else? This is a shop in Old Town Sacramento selling some very enticing chocolates. Actually, we -2-
did manage to resist going in there yesterday but only because by the time we had lunch, the line was out of the door! Paul s promise to the Corinthians is that when we are tempted that God will give us a way out of temptation. Resistance is not futile. We can overcome temptation. Scripture does not explicitly support the statement God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle? And as I said a few minutes ago, there are times when we turn to therapists and others for help because we have been given more than we can process and handle on our own. So let s look at the ways in which the statement God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle is wrong. As we talked about when we thought about the statement two weeks ago Everything happens for a reason, God does not will bad things to happen to us. God does not give us bad things to handle. And God definitely doesn t pile them one on top of another increasing our suffering until just before we get to breaking point. The better response to those who are suffering is not a platitude, God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle? but How can we help? When we get sent bad things and more than we can handle they are not sent by God but God will walk with us through those circumstances. Jesus has already walked through our shared human experience, he knew suffering, rejection, betrayal, torture and death. And his resurrection proclaims that they do not have the final word in our lives. Scripture doesn t promise we won t go through hard times, but it does promise that God is our hope and strength. Perhaps a better and more accurate cliché is God will help you handle all you have been given. God walks with us through our darkest valleys. Ps 23:4 KJV Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me. Or as we read earlier and our singers sang about Ps 46 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; God sends us stretcher-bearers to help us when we cannot walk on our own. We survive the worst times and experiences through our faith in God, our experience of God and God s care for us. We hold onto our faith knowing that at some point joy will overshadow the pain. Eventually, God turns the challenges around and uses them for good. -3-
Our country now is at a challenging point in its history. We all have a part to play as we restore a broken nation to wholeness. Our success as a nation rests on President Trump s success as a leader. May God s spirit be with him, giving him wisdom to lead in difficult times. There are those in this country who fear that the change in regime with the new balance of power in Congress and the Senate will remove some of their rights and that we are heading for worse times. We have immigrants, Muslims, the disabled, lesbians and gays, those with pre-existing medical conditions, and others living in fear for what the future might hold. I know we have all political opinions in this room / congregation / neighborhood. Some of you are excited for the changes that are ahead, others think that any fear is misplaced and we need to take a wait and see approach, others think that the people have spoken and we accept the results. Some think that the racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic words from the campaign and the current nationalistic fervor will carry over into legislation and take us down a path that is unwise. But whatever your political views, our country yesterday did experience what may have been the biggest one-day protest in US history as the Women s March on Washington and its sister marches all over the country and world brought people together to express their hopes and fears that the gains made in human rights are not eroded. And there were some people from this church and the neighboring UM churches at the Sacramento march. We, individually, like our country as a whole, have to figure out what it means as Christians to live with our diversity in unity together while also making sure we take good care of the widow, the orphan, the poor and the oppressed. Whether we like it or not, we all live out our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ in the public square. Whatever our political views, as we wrestle with the events of last week from MLK day to the Inauguration on Friday and the violence protests that erupted to the Women s March yesterday, let s remember that God will help us handle all that we have been given, that God is our refuge and strength, and that God will send others to help us, or maybe send us to help others. In his book, Adam Hamilton tells of a woman Annie Johnson Flint born in 1866 in New Jersey. 1 At age 3 her mother died, and then her father became ill and she was put up for adoption. Before she finished high school, both of her adoptive parents died. She trained to be a teacher. Then she was diagnosed with severe arthritis that left her unable to work. She gave up the teaching and spent her remaining 40 years in a wheelchair in a Sanatorium. She began writing poetry. Then her hands swelled so much that she had to dictate them. She continued to compose because she 1 Hamilton, 99-101. -4-
wanted to help others who were undergoing similar challenges. She is best remembered for her poem What God Hath Promised God hath not promised skies always blue, Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through; God hath not promised sun without rain, Joy without sorrow, peace without pain. God hath not promised we shall not know Toil and temptation, trouble and woe; He hath not told us we shall not bear many a burden, many a care. God hath not promised smooth roads and wide, Swift, easy travel, needing no guide; Never a mountain rocky and steep, Never a river turbid and deep But God hath promised strength for the day, Rest for the labor, light for the way, Grace for the trials, help from above, Unfailing sympathy, undying love. 2 So, when you hear the phrase God Won t Give You More Than You Can Handle, remember it is only a half-truth. The truth in it is that when you face temptation, God will help you find a way through if you will open yourself to the opportunity. And the false bit is the idea that God makes us suffer, and will give us suffering up to but no further than our breaking point. When you are walking through hard times its okay to admit that you have more than you can handle and need help. At times, we need a doctor or therapist. More often we need family, friends, neighbors, church family to carry us through. And as we do reach out, we trust that God walks with us, that God s spirit is at work helping us handle all that life gives us. Thanks be to God. Amen. Let us pray O God, how grateful we are for the way that you walk with us in every moment of our lives. In the moments when we are tempted, help us to remember to turn to you for the strength we need to resist. When we walk through adversity, help us to remember that the burdens did not come from you, but that you will help us bear them. Thank you for those who reach out to us with a listening ear, a willing hand, and marching feet as together we faithfully witness to each other and build the land that God has planned where love shines through. Amen. 2 Verses 1 and 4 in Hamilton, 101. All verses in http://www.hymnary.org/text/god_hath_not_promised_skies_always_blue -5-
Resources Hamilton, Adam. Half Truths: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves and Other Things the Bible Doesn t Say. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2016. -6-