Pastor Leon Seaton

Agents of Healing

Saturday afternoon I was asked to preach a funeral service for a hospice patient.  While there I heard two great stories that illustrate the message I have for today.

The first story comes from a retired business administrator. He stated that his greatest achievement in many years of administration was helping employees that were otherwise destined for failure become successes. Ten years after he retired from that job, people still take time to thank him for helping them.

Other supervisors often said to him, “This man/woman is out the door unless he can work in your department.” His solution was really quite simple. Instead of trying to get an employee to fit his criteria for an employee he spent time determining what the man could do. He said, “If all the man could do was crawl I would let him crawl. When he got good at that I would help him learn to walk. Eventually I taught him to lead.”

Other supervisors would tell the man to go do something – like climb that pole – without first determining the man’s abilities.

Come to think about it, that is the way God works with us! If we are a baby Christian God helps us crawl, then, at our own pace and learning ability God teaches us to do the work that He has prepared in advance for us to do.

Another great story came from a minister named “George.” When he and “Suzy” (the deceased) were children they grew up in the poorest part of Oklahoma City. His parents lived in “Mulligan Flats” or the area just south of OKC where the homes were mostly shacks.

He said that his clothes were always clean, but they were also worn out – this was before blue jeans with holes in them were popular. Suzy was the prettiest girl in the school, but she was also the only kid in school that did not look down on him and make fun of him. She was always very sweet and kind; he has never forgotten that.

Today Bill is a pastor – and hopefully his church will be able to help Suzy’s grandchildren grow up to be strong Christians.

Why do I tell these stories? It’s because there is a lot of pain in our world. Greed has led to the financial collapse of some very large business organizations. One large denomination has paid enormous sums of money to cover the costs of illegitimate acts by their clergy. Drug abuse, sexual abuse, and sin in general leads to the wasting of human lives. The list goes on and on.

As I thought about all of this, the words of Jeremiah 8 came to mind. As a background, Jeremiah 7 talks about God’s anger at the sin of His people in allowing false religions to thrive. In chapter 8 God announces judgment and He asks some point-blank statements:

Jeremiah 8:4-7, “Say to them, 'this is what the LORD says: When men fall down, do they not get up? When a man turns away, does he not return? Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle.'”

Jeremiah 8:18-22 is the heart-cry of the prophet to God and God’s response:

Jeremiah: “O my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: 'Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?' ”

God Responds: "Why have they provoked Me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?"

Jeremiah: "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved. Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?”

Our focus today is on the need of our neighbors and our nation. The healing balm that we need comes from God, but He does not simply drop it into our laps. God works through His people to administer His healing balm. In other words, He needs you and me to do the work that we are called to do!

Too often we are like our friend Jonah. Remember him? Jonah was called to go to Nineveh to deliver God’s message of destruction because of their many sins. Now God knew how the people would react, for He knows the hearts of all men.

Apparently Jonah knew in his spirit what would happen, and since he hated the Ninevehites he did not want to go. Instead, he went to the port of departure on the ocean and set sail for Tarshish. In the words of the old Gunsmoke TV program, he was “getting out of Dodge!”

We know the story. God prepared a great fish to swallow up the rebellious prophet and in the darkness of the great fish’s belly our friend saw the light. Jonah got his obedience right, but not his attitude.

But we really have no business condemning Jonah. We all do the same thing. Sometimes we harbor grudges and resentments. Sometimes we think we are too busy to do God’s work. Sometimes we do our best to do the Lord’s work and fail. The truth is all of us are hurting for a variety of reasons. We don’t even want to talk about all the tings I’ve done wrong or failed to do.

The reality is that everyone needs someone to bless and encourage them – and everyone needs to be a blessing and encourager to someone. This message opened with two powerful stories of people helping people.

Friday night as I mused over this message I asked the Lord for guidance and instruction and then wrote out what came to me. One of the thoughts is simply this. Every Christian goes through times of testing and times of refreshing. “But”, the Lord said, “those times are not scheduled for your comfort or at your convenience.” Instead, He told me, they are scheduled when we need them and when God feels that the timing is right.

People fail at times… We all do – or have. (If you haven’t failed at something you may not be taking enough risks - which might be a form of failure!)

The truth is, every Biblical character (except Jesus) failed at one time or another. Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden and got all of us kicked out! Wow! What a burden that has to be to carry! Later their two sons Cain and Abel got into a disagreement over keeping the Lord’s commands and Cain killed his brother.

Abraham, that great man of faith, lied about his relationship with his wife, claiming that she was his sister in order to save his own hide. Dumb thing to do, but God forgave him! Later when God did not give him a son on time he did things his own way. His descendants are still fighting over that deal 7,000 years later (Jews and Palestinians).

Jacob, that great man of God, was a deceiver before God finally got hold of him.

David, the “man after God’s own heart” got the neighbor lady pregnant then had her husband killed. But he repented and God restored him – several times in fact.

Daniel and the “Three Hebrew Children” (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) were the only Old Testament characters that came to mind that did everything right.

Peter denied Jesus three times and all the disciples (the Twelve) hid in terror after the death of Jesus.

Did God hold anything against this crowd? No… He forgave them and restored them.

Hebrews 11 is the great faith chapter of the Bible. But look at verses 35b through 39:

“Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.

They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated--the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised”.

Hebrews 12 instructs us to be faithful even when things do not go our way.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: 'My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.' Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?”

Always remember that God’s plans supersede our plans. He sees the big picture, He has an overall plan. His plan may not make sense to you! Job faithfully prayed over his children and all ten of them died the same day! But he never gave up on God! After all, it was not God that killed them!

Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, lost her husband and both of her sons. She almost lost all hope. But one of her sons had picked the perfect wife. Although she was not one of God’s chosen people God used her in a great way. When Naomi returned to her native land she told Ruth to go back to her people. Ruth refused. She said, “Your people will be my people…your God will be my God.”

In true humility Ruth did what she was told. As a result their fortunes were restored and she is listed in the ancestry of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. Things do not always make sense, but REMAIN FAITHFUL TO GOD! HE MAY SURPRISE YOU!

Perhaps you feel so tired that you can hardly put one foot in front of the other. Maybe you feel what an anonymous poet felt when he wrote…

I wish I was a little rock, a sittin' on the hill

An doin' nothin' all day long. . .'Cept just a sittin' still

I wouldn't eat, I wouldn't sleep. . . I wouldn't even wash

I'd sit and sit a thousand years. . . And rest myself, and rest!

Hebrews 12:12 says, “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.”

The NRSV translates Heb. 12:12 as, “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees.”

In other words, God understands when we get tired and feel like we can’t go on!

Rev. King Duncan puts it this way: "We all get tired. You've experienced it yourself. You've had a rough day at work. By four o'clock you are dragging. You're yearning for the five o'clock whistle. You struggle through traffic, drag your weary body home, and plop down in your easy chair, too worn out to do anything but reach for the remote control. But a friend calls and invites you to do something you really enjoy. Suddenly you have a burst of energy you never dreamed you had. When you are doing something you enjoy, amazing energy is available. Energy is primarily mental. It is related to attitude."

{This is not to say that there cannot be underlying physical causes of chronic fatigue. Certainly there can. Such things as infections, anemia, thyroid problems, diabetes, drug abuse, cancer, and sleep disorders can drain us of energy. In the case of chronic tiredness, a physical check-up may be in order. There may be a serious problem with your health.}

But there are other factors that can play a role in fatigue like anger, boredom, anxiety and stress. Energy is related to our mental state.

A beautiful example of this is work done by Dr. Henry Goddard on the effects of criticism upon energy. Dr. Goddard developed an instrument called the ergograph which measures energy levels. Students were instructed to run on a treadmill. As a student became tired and exhausted on the treadmill, his energy level “as measured by the ergograph” would gradually drop. However, if researchers said to the student, "You're doing great . . . keep up the good work… I'm proud of you," suddenly, the student's energy would dramatically improve. On the other hand, if they said, "You're lazy… quit dragging your feet . . . what's wrong with you. . . ." ‘Talking discouragingly and critically, the energy curve would go down.

The thing that strengthens me the most is having a purpose for my life. The idea of retirement is just foreign to me. I am eagerly looking forward to the completion of our church’s plans for a parsonage so Roberta and I can serve you better.

Wayne Long tells the following story:

My friend, your purpose today is to be an encourager – to allow God to use you as His healing balm for a hurting world!

March 15, 2009