October 19, 2003
"A New Attitude"

I have an important question to ask you this morning: How many of you enjoy pain? How many of you experience pain anyway? And the toughest question, how many of us have blamed God for our pain? Obviously the answer to the first two questions is: everybody. Nobody likes pain and suffering, but everybody goes through periods of darkness. And almost everybody goes through times when they get mad at God, when they ask “Why have you sent these troubles on me? What have I done to deserve them?”

Well, you probably haven’t done anything to deserve your troubles, and I don’t think that God sent them in the first place. Pain and sorrow are part of life in our fallen state, and the Bible is full of assurances that these twin gorillas will beat on us. Nowhere in the Bible will you find a promise that if you’re a good boy or girl, God will keep trouble away from our doorstep. But today’s scripture readings are meant to remind us that when it comes to getting through life’s problems, attitude is half the battle. No, make that nine-tenths of the battle.

Today as we gather at the table of the Lord I want to talk about letting God create this new attitude in our hearts.

Both Paul in his letter to the Romans and the obscure prophet Habakkuk were writing to societies in turmoil. Paul wrote to a church at the height of the persecutions of the Emperor Nero. Christians were being fed to the lions for no offense other than belief in Jesus Christ, and here Paul is saying “God means all these persecutions for good.” How many of us would have the courage to face death for our faith and affirm God’s goodness at the same time?

But Paul’s practically a wild-eyed optimist compared to Habakkuk, who spends most of his brief book of the Bible predicting doom for the unrighteous. Then at the very end of his writing he runs through a litany of troubles: my farm might fail, my crops might die, my cattle and sheep may run off, but I will still be joyful and glad, because God is my savior. My Lord is also my friend. He is on my side.

Do you believe that? Can you affirm that? It’s true. Blaming God for our troubles is like blaming the fireman for the fire. Far from inflicting pain upon us, God is an active partner in our struggles. He does not send us tragedy to teach us a lesson. God is present in our trials to help us grow and have hope enough to meet our challenges. He helps us to see the good that can come out of our troubles. God does not send the fire that threatens to destroy us. God helps us to fight the flames. And when real pain comes to our life, God works with us to discover treasures—things that we can take with us and build on as we start over again.

Most of us have learned from our experiences that some things which feel like terrible tragedy, maybe the absolute worst thing than can happen to us, later turned out to be all for the good. Maybe it was the job we didn’t get that led to a better job. Maybe it was a romance that ended and later was seen to be a dead-end street. Maybe it was an illness that gave us the time to get a new insight on faith. All of us have some experience  that turned out to be an opportunity for growth. They were worth the pain and suffering they brought for the good they brought, too.

You see, human beings are a pretty resilient bunch, all things considered. They were built to take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’—as long as they believe that what they endure has meaning. You think a mother would ever go through the pain of child-bearing except for the bliss of having that baby lie on her chest and nestle there? No, of course not. Everybody wants to know that their pain has meaning, that it’s going to make us better people, or help somebody else, or just do something to make the world a better place. But it’s not always easy to see, is it?

How many of us have ever hit a time in our life when we didn’t understand the point of what we were going through? How many of us have ever gotten angry with God and said, “If I have to go through this, at least tell me why?”

My friends, I used to do that with my polio all the time. My mother would say to me, “God never gives us more than we can handle.” The nuns at school would say, “Whenever God closes a door he always opens a window.” But all I could see were lots and lots of closed doors. Sports I couldn’t play. Friends I couldn’t keep up with. Careers I could not aspire to. I used to get so angry with God that I’d shake my fist with tears streaming down my face and I’d holler at him, “Tell me why my life had to be this way.” Only now I understand, God was saying, “I have to break you down, before I can raise you up.”

One of the things I’m sure of is that I would never have become a pastor if I had not experienced polio. Was there pain and suffering associated with polio? Big time. Did it help me become more sensitive to others and their struggles? Absolutely. Is it worth it to me if one person can look at what I go through and say, “If he can get through his problems with God’s help, maybe God will help me through mine?” Definitely. You see, God did not and does not build you up to see you fall. God only wants to build you from one peak to the next, until you reach the perfection that he had in mind.

And you might say, “Yeah, but I try so hard and things still go sour.” No doubt that’s true. No one is immune to life’s bad bounces. Sometimes things do not go well no matter how hard you tried. Vince Lombardi used to say, “The better you practice, the better you play on Sunday.” Sometimes, though, it just doesn’t work out that way. It’s hard to believe the Steelers practiced at all before last Sunday, but actually I’m sure they worked hard, only to see a win snatched away at the last moment. And life is that way a lot. You do your best to be a good husband or wife, and the marriage still ends. You do your best to be a good parent, and the kids still get into trouble. You do your best at work and still get laid off or fired or stay underpaid.

What Habakkuk replied was “The righteous live by faith.” No matter what happens in life, if I lose my job, if my retirement money disappears in the stock market, when my daughter comes home with a tattoo and some yahoo with a mohawk, yes, even when the Steelers stink, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will exult in the God of my salvation. That’s the meaning of God’s promise through Paul: “We know that all things work together for God for those who love the Lord.” But our attitude makes this happen.

Many years ago a woman in a faded gingham dress and a man in a simple threadbare suit stepped off the train in Boston and boarded a streetcar to Harvard University, where they timidly entered the office of the president and asked to speak to him. The secretary could tell in an instant that these country hicks had no business at Harvard, maybe even no business in Boston at all. She frowned and told the couple, “the president will be busy all day.” The woman replied, “We’ll wait.” All day the secretary did her best to ignore the couple, hoping that they would get frustrated and give up.

Finally, however, it was the secretary who grew frustrated and decided to disturb the president. “Maybe if they just see you for a few moments, they’ll leave,” she said, and the president nodded in exasperation. When ushered into the office paneled with dignity and money, the woman explained, “We had a son who attended Harvard for a year, and he loved it here very much, but he was killed in an accident. So my husband and I would like to build a memorial to him somewhere here on campus.”

To that the president said, “Madam, we can’t build a statue to every person who attended Harvard and died. The campus would look like a cemetery.” “Oh no, we had something more in mind like a building,” the woman said.

The president laughed and said “Do you know how much a building costs. We have 10 million dollars invested in the physical plant at Harvard.” The woman fell silent. The president was pleased with himself, thinking perhaps he could get rid of these rubes. Then the woman turned to her husband and said, “Is that all it costs to start a university? Maybe we should just go build our own.” Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford went to California and founded the university that bears their name, in honor of the son that Harvard didn’t care about. Their attitude overcame both the contempt of people who thought they were superior, and the impossible odds of starting a world-class university from scratch.

What would God have us understand this morning about developing a new attitude? Three things:

1—A new attitude means that we rejoice in the Lord always, whether we feel like it or not. There is a song in the musical Fiddler on the Roof, “To Life,” which says, “God would like us to be joyful even when our hearts are lying on the floor. What more reason to be joyful when there’s really something to be joyful for?” There is something to be joyful for; there is always something to be joyful for. God’s promises are two-fold—I’m going to help you get through your difficulties, and I’m going to prepare a home in heaven that will just knock your eyes out.

To rejoice in God means first, that we close our eyes and say, “Yeah, Lord, I can get through this with your help,” and two, that we keep our eye on the prize. The irony about the history of the Christian faith is that the churches that have been persecuted or under pressure have known so much more about the secret of Christian joy that churches that live in peace and tranquility. That’s what Paul was trying to tell the church in Rome, even as they were being driven underground and killed, “Hang in there, the spirit is with you, and God will make your suffering meaningful. It will work out for the good.”

2—A new attitude means that we rely on God, not ourselves, for our strength. Habakkuk proclaimed, “The Sovereign Lord is my strength.” He knew the truth about our relationship with God: he is the creator and we are the created, that life was designed so that we will need God’s strength. Anybody here ever fail at something because you relied too much on your own abilities? God places us in situations where we are weak so that we can feel his strength flowing through us. We function very well in his world, as his instrument, only when we are firmly in his grasp.

Sometimes God puts us in situations and asks us to persevere, not so people will see that we’re powerful, but so they will see that he’s powerful. He doesn’t ask us to serve others so that they’ll see we’re good, but so they’ll see that he’s good. And our response should be, “God, help me to bear up under my problems so that I can give glory to you, and others will call you Lord.” And all through the darkest circumstances, we need to hear the voice of Christ asking, “Which one of you would give your child a scorpion when he asks for an egg? Even the worst of you knows how to give good things to your children. How much more will your Father in Heaven give you?”

3—A new attitude requires more than just accepting misfortune stoically. When we are left to our own circumstances misfortune tends to make us bitter and hard, not noble and dignified. A new attitude calls for a new relationship with God. And the communion table is where we forge a right relationship with the Almighty.

Those who are able to see good in everything are those who love God. But this relationship is a two-way street. God has a purpose for us in the world he has made, and we have the option of getting on the bandwagon and cooperating, or we can pull the blanket over our head and say that life has no meaning or purpose. The first way will let us see that there is good in our misfortune. The second way leads to little but self-pity.

If you cannot believe that God works for good in everything, at least believe this—in everything, God works. I can’t promise you that if you just hang on until tomorrow your problems will be over. Neither does God. But in all things, God really is there—he is stronger than whatever is wrong in your life. Evil will not have the last word. Nothing can separate us from his love. Grace doesn’t always come to us bright and shiny, but it always comes when we need it.

D.L. Moody—think of him as the Billy Graham of the 19^th Century—once told the story of a Christian lady who was always bright, cheerful and optimistic, even though she was confined to her bed by an illness. She was very poor and could only afford to live in an attic apartment on the fifth floor of a rundown building in the middle of a slum. A friend decided to visit her one day, and brought along another lady, a woman of great wealth and even greater self-importance. There was no elevator, so they had to climb the stairs.

When they reached the second floor, the rich woman said “What a dark and filthy place.” Her friend replied, “It’s better higher up.” When they arrived at the third level, the rich woman said “It looks even worse here.” But again her companion said, “It’s better higher up.” Finally, they reached the attic, where they found the lady whose smile radiated the joy in her heart. Although the room was neat and clean, there was little furniture, and finally the rich woman couldn’t contain herself any more—she blurted out, “It must be difficult for you to live like this.”

And without a moment of hesitation, the bedfast lady replied, “It’s better higher up.” She knew joy, because she knew what was waiting for her, one flight up.

I don’t know what awaits us this week or any other week, but I do know what awaits us one flight up. So if disaster should strike us this week, if our health goes south, if an earthquake shakes our emotions, if our finances go from black to brilliant red, I want us all to develop a new attitude based on these three principles:

Make a choice to rejoice in God. The grace we are about to receive at his table are sufficient to meet all our needs.

Decide to live by his strength, not ours. Let’s place ourselves in his control, and say, “Lord, I’m going to let you fly this plane. I know that you have only good things in mind for me, so I can get through whatever bad comes my way.”

Let’s make him a partner in our lives. Let’s make it a priority to talk to him in prayer and listen for his response. Let’s trust him to make us as sure-footed as a deer as we climb the daily rocks of life.