Pinterest Perfect

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

I’ve had a couple of people ask me if I would write a post about my sermon I preached this past Sunday at Asbury about marriage. If you missed it, you can listen to the podcast here. I called this message Pinterest Perfect.

There are studies that show the more time we spend on social media, the sadder and more depressed we become. Why? Because we measure measuring what we deem to be our imperfect lives against the pictures, status, tweets, and pins of other’s lives. Our lives don’t measure up to others Pinterest Perfection. By the way, take some time to enjoy “Pinterest Fails” You’ll be entertained for hours.

We do the same thing with marriage. We try to Photoshop it. We try to make it appear to be perfect, when it isn’t. Marriage is never, ever perfect. It just isn’t. It’s the union of two imperfect, broken people. We pretend our marriages are perfect and amazing and strong because, as Christians, that’s what we have to do, right? We can’t have problems or failings or weakness. We say we put Christ in the center of our marriage, but we don’t understand what that means. To have Christ in the center of our marriage doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. We will still face temptations and fights and tough, tough times. But it does mean that we have something to stand upon and hold on to when tough times come.

Most of what we get about marriage we don’t get from the Bible, we get from culture. The notion of perfection. Or fair tales. Of happily ever after. That doesn’t actually happen in the real world, nor in the Bible. So, what does the Bible say about marriage?

First, it says that marriage is the first institution created. Before the church. Before government. Before anything else, marriage came first. And because of this, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cling to his wife. This means that the relationship between husband and wife must come first before all other relationships. Before parents, children, friends, everything. Not that those relationships are bad, they aren’t. They are good. But the marriage relationship has to be our primary one.

But here’s the other thing. Culture has taught us that our marriage is about happiness and fulfillment. It’s not. Your spouse will never make you happy. Hear me again. Your spouse will never make you happy. They will never fulfill you; they will never complete you. They can’t. They are broken and human like you. The only person that will make you happy, complete, and content is Jesus.

So, the key to marriage, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 5: 22-33 is not seeking our will and own way, but in a mutual submission. Wives submitting to husbands, husbands laying down their life for their wife. That passage is not about one “side” being in control, but about both sides, husband, and wife, valuing the other more than ourselves.

Every problem in marriage is solved by us honestly and completely putting our spouse ahead of ourselves.

That type of marriage is not Pinterest perfect. But it is authentically real. And that’s what the world needs. Not Christians being pretend perfect. But real, broken and chasing after Jesus.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones, and you thought our app, you can now watch our worship services from Asbury too!

52 Weeks (Week 6)

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Today in our week 6 of 52 Weeks, 52 Verses, we learn the rest of Psalm 121. Look at that! Over the course of these last four weeks, we’ve learned a Psalm. Memorizing the Bible is a process, something that is not done overnight, but something done consistently, with prayer, reflection, and study.

Today, listen to the end of Psalm 121, verse 7-8:

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

The Lord will keep us. Think about that for a second. Our security, our hope, our peace, it doesn’t come from human hands or human elements. But from the Lord God of Hosts. Thing about that. Take this passage seriously. Meditate upon it. Think upon it. Focus upon it.

The Lord is your keeper. He will keep you from all evil. He will keep your going and your coming. Now, and forever.

Don’t worry. Don’t stress. Don’t fret. Don’t be overwhelmed.

The Lord is your keeper.

Rest in the knowledge. Rest in that promise today.

Simplify

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

I like things that are simple. The older I get, the more I really want things to be simple so that I can understand; see the big picture, a see what is really at the heart of the matter. Simplicity is a good, good thing.

We often look at the Bible, look at issues of faith, and think that they can be too confusing. They are too complicated. They can’t really be understood. And there are many, many things in the Bible, many things in faith that are hard to understand. One of the things that we can struggle the most to understand is this. What does it mean to be a Christian? What does the Christian life look like, what are we supposed to do as Christians.

Paul in the book of Galatians spends time going to the heart of the matter for the Christian faith. He really wants to simplify the understanding of what the Christin life should be. Look at what he writes today in Galatians 5: 13-14:

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Yep. That’s a good, simple word. He gets to the heart of what the Christian life should look like in regards to how we are to treat others. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the laws about how we are supposed to treat each other, all these things, they are simplified here.

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

That’s it. That’s the heart of the law. That’s the heart of the faith. As Jesus reminded us, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all of our mind, our soul and strength, and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

That’s the heart of what this whole Christianity thing is about. Love God. Love neighbor. That’s the Gospel, that’s the law, that’s the faith, simplified.

Today, don’t worry about the complicated things that you can’t understand. Focus on this. Love God. Love neighbor. The rest will take care of itself.

God Will Not Give Up on You

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Have you ever read through any of the Old Testament prophets? There’s a lot going on there. They are some of my favorite books of the Bible. When you read them, you see a similar pattern. The people have done something wrong, something that they should have not.

God says, you will be punished for your sin. The sins that God normally punishes the most (or really seems the most upset with) are idolatry and how the poor are treated. Those two come down to what Jesus told us to do – love God and love our neighbor.

If we love God, we won’t worship idols, we won’t place other things above Him. He will be first in our lives.

If we love our neighbor, we will help our neighbors, we will care for them, we will do right by them and for them.

When the people of God in the Old Testament didn’t do right, they were then punished.

Boy, this sounds great, doesn’t it! But that’s not why I love the prophets. Why I love the prophets comes next. After those things, God always says – I love. I can’t destroy you. You are mine, I made you, I can’t forsake you. I will redeem you. Today’s reading in Isaiah 54: 7-10 is a great example:

For a brief moment I deserted you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord, your Redeemer.
“This is like the days of Noah[a] to me:
as I swore that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
and will not rebuke you.
For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

God says – my steadfast love will not depart. Through mountains and hills are moved, though these things may fail, may be destroyed may be no more, my steadfast love will not depart.

God will not leave us. He will not forsake us. No matter what. He is for us. He is with us. He is our friend, our rock, our Savior, our God. Do not fear. Do not quake. Do not give up, give in, quit, or let go.

God will not give up on you. He won’t.

Though all the things of this life my fail. God’s steadfast love for you will not depart.

His covenant will not be removed.

He will show compassion. He will. He always has. He always will. Don’t doubt that truth today. God will not forsake you. God will not give up on you.

We are One

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

In Jesus, we all are equal. We are. There is such an equality with Jesus. An equality of need. An equality of grace. An equality of calling. We are all equal.

We all, me, you, all of us, we stand in equal need of salvation. None of us are perfect. None of us can earn it, none of us will get it right. We all need grace. We all need Jesus. We all need His mercy.

And what we find in Jesus, is we find that grace and mercy is there for all of us, no matter who we are, where we come from, any of that. We all find that His mercy is there, waiting for us, no matter what. No matter who we are, what we have done, any of us.

We find Jesus there.

So if we are equal in need and equal in grace, we are equal in worth. Listen to what Paul says today in Galatians 3: 27-28:

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

In Jesus, there is not male or female. There is not Greek or Jew. There is not slave or free. We are all one.

No matter what. No matter what barriers, differences, or distinctions the world tries to place on us, in Jesus, we are one.

No matter your race. Your views on things. Your wealth (or lack of). Your job. Any of these things. If you are in Jesus. If you are a believer. If you are saved through Jesus, then you are my brother or sister.

You are. In Jesus, we are one. Through Jesus, we are one. Because of Jesus, we are one.

Today, I love you like family. Because through Jesus, we are. Today, may we as the church, may we live as one. Because through Jesus, that’s just what we are.

52 Weeks (Week 5)

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

As we walk together through 2015, we are memorizing the Word of God. Each week we are memorizing a different passage. Today we continue memorizing Psalm 121 looking at verses 5-6. Listen to what this passage says:

5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

Here’s what I love so much about that passage. The Lord is your keeper. He is your shade. He will keep you safe in the day and the night. God will keep you. He will guide you. He will protect you.

He will be your God.

Trust. Your safety and protection, it comes from nowhere else but God. Man oh man, this is one of those passages that I’ve loved for so many years. It’s one of those passages that I’ve allowed to really go deep into my heart.

I don’t have to be afraid. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to fear.

Because the Lord is my keeper.

And He is yours. Trust. Lean on Him. He will keep you. He will.

Trust.

RevAndy.org

Monthly Archives: February 2015