“When Life Is Out Of Control”
Luke 7:1-17
In a small west Texas town, a fire broke out in the town’s only oil well. This well was a major source of employment and income for this little town. When the fire went on for days and no one seemed to be able to put it out, they decided to offer a reward to anyone who came up with a plan to extinguish the fire.
A young man drove up to the Mayor soon after that. He was driving an old, beat-up pickup truck and wearing old clothes. He told the Mayor that he thought he had a way to get the fire out and he would do it the next morning. Well, the news soon spread all over town and the next morning everyone from town was out by the burning oil well. Pretty soon they saw this old, beat-up pickup truck coming up over the rise. In the back of it must have been every relative this young guy had. As the people watched, the pickup truck kept driving right at the raging fire, never stopped, and crashed right into it. Immediately everyone there ran for the truck and started beating out the flames. In a little while everyone was safe and in so doing, the oil well fire was out too.
In a few minutes, the Mayor ceremoniously presented a check for the reward to this obviously very smart young man. The Mayor asked him what he was going to do with all this money. The young man replied, “Well, the first thing I’m going to do is fix the brakes on that old truck.”
Sometimes life is out of our control. At times we seem to luck out and things go well but at other times, the plan we thought would work just doesn’t. Then we realize that we need help. Today we’re looking at two times in the Bible when life was out of control for those involved. This first story involves a work relationship.
Luke 7:1-10. When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went back to Capernaum. Now the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish leaders to ask him to come and heal his slave. So they earnestly begged Jesus to come with them and help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, it is he,” they said, “for he loves the Jews and even built a synagogue for us.”
So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this or that,’ they do it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all the land of Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.
When life is out of control, we can respond better when we understand these truths.
1. We don’t deserve God’s help. The Jewish leaders, who came to see Jesus for the centurion, told Jesus that this man deserved to be helped. Why? Because he had built a synagogue for them.
But later the centurion himself said that he did not deserve it. He didn’t even deserve to have Jesus come into his house. But he wanted Jesus’ help.
When life is out of control, when people we care about are sick and there’s nothing we can do about it, we can ask God for help even though we don’t deserve it. Prayer is not a conversation among equals. Prayer is a conversation between weak people and a powerful God. But this powerful God has chosen to honor our weakness by making us strong. Just by asking God for help in prayer we are acknowledging that we are not in control but instead want God to be in control of this situation and all of our lives.
Think of an egg. I have a question for you. How can I eat an egg without cracking it? How? By having someone else crack it for me. Sometimes we can’t do everything for ourselves. We need someone else to help us. We can’t always control everything just the way we would like to. Realizing that we need help leads us to our second truth when dealing with our out of control lives.
2. Putting ourselves under the authority of God is an expression of faith. Jesus was amazed that the centurion didn’t need to see him physically present. He knew about authority and knew that if Jesus spoke the word that the servant would be healed.
A few years back our youngest daughter was sick and so I called the doctor’s office. I wasn’t sure if she needed to be seen by the doctor or not. I talked with someone at the office and then a nurse called me back. We briefly talked about her symptoms and I decided not to take her to the doctor then. I never did talk to the doctor. But the doctor, through the nurse, helped me with the situation.
Even when we can’t see God directly at work we need to put ourselves under the authority of God. We need to say, “O.K. God I don’t feel your presence, and it’s hard to imagine that you’re even here right now, but I know you are and I submit myself to your authority over me that I have given freely to you.” When we give God control of the situation we are in, even when we can’t feel His presence, God rejoices. It shows that we really do trust Him and have given our lives to Him.
The next story in Luke 7 is another out of control situation. Here we have a single Mom and life has just gotten even tougher.
Read Luke 7:11-17. Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, with a great crowd following him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The boy who had died was the only son of a widow, and many mourners from the village were with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said.
Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk to those around him! And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “We have seen the hand of God at work today.” The report of what Jesus had done that day spread all over Judea and even out across its borders.
It’s not easy to face the death of a loved one. When we have to keep getting up every morning and going on, we can find some comfort in Jesus’ reaction when he walked into this woman’s life and loss.
3. God’s heart breaks along with ours. This single Mom had already been dealing with raising her son alone. Her husband had died—she had had to deal with that loss—and now she was left alone. With the death of her son, she was not only alone but it would have been difficult for her to support herself.
Into the middle of that sorrowful scene, Jesus comes walking. In this crowd of mourners, Jesus heart breaks and goes out to this woman who had lost her son.
Some years ago a pastor by the name of Pastor Spurgeon took a gift to a farmer. It was a weather vane that said “God is love.” The farmer said, “What does this mean, that God’s love is as changeable as the wind?” “No,” said the Pastor, “it means that God is love whichever way the wind blows.”
God loves us and his heart breaks along with ours.
4. God helps us because we need help. This woman never asked Jesus for help. He helped her because she needed it.
You can’t put God in a box. Does He raise every dead son back to life? No. Does he heal every person who is close to death? No. Does He help everyone? Yes.
The reaction of the people to Jesus’ helping this woman by bringing her son back to life was awe and praise for God. They said, “We have seen the hand of God at work today.”
Whatever happens in life, no matter how out of control it is, we can know the God who is with us. The God who is with us is the God who is in control. That God is working for our good no matter how bad it looks to us. Today, whatever is happening in your life, letting Jesus take control will make all the difference.
Luke 7:1-17
In a small west Texas town, a fire broke out in the town’s only oil well. This well was a major source of employment and income for this little town. When the fire went on for days and no one seemed to be able to put it out, they decided to offer a reward to anyone who came up with a plan to extinguish the fire.
A young man drove up to the Mayor soon after that. He was driving an old, beat-up pickup truck and wearing old clothes. He told the Mayor that he thought he had a way to get the fire out and he would do it the next morning. Well, the news soon spread all over town and the next morning everyone from town was out by the burning oil well. Pretty soon they saw this old, beat-up pickup truck coming up over the rise. In the back of it must have been every relative this young guy had. As the people watched, the pickup truck kept driving right at the raging fire, never stopped, and crashed right into it. Immediately everyone there ran for the truck and started beating out the flames. In a little while everyone was safe and in so doing, the oil well fire was out too.
In a few minutes, the Mayor ceremoniously presented a check for the reward to this obviously very smart young man. The Mayor asked him what he was going to do with all this money. The young man replied, “Well, the first thing I’m going to do is fix the brakes on that old truck.”
Sometimes life is out of our control. At times we seem to luck out and things go well but at other times, the plan we thought would work just doesn’t. Then we realize that we need help. Today we’re looking at two times in the Bible when life was out of control for those involved. This first story involves a work relationship.
Luke 7:1-10. When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went back to Capernaum. Now the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish leaders to ask him to come and heal his slave. So they earnestly begged Jesus to come with them and help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, it is he,” they said, “for he loves the Jews and even built a synagogue for us.”
So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this or that,’ they do it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all the land of Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.
When life is out of control, we can respond better when we understand these truths.
1. We don’t deserve God’s help. The Jewish leaders, who came to see Jesus for the centurion, told Jesus that this man deserved to be helped. Why? Because he had built a synagogue for them.
But later the centurion himself said that he did not deserve it. He didn’t even deserve to have Jesus come into his house. But he wanted Jesus’ help.
When life is out of control, when people we care about are sick and there’s nothing we can do about it, we can ask God for help even though we don’t deserve it. Prayer is not a conversation among equals. Prayer is a conversation between weak people and a powerful God. But this powerful God has chosen to honor our weakness by making us strong. Just by asking God for help in prayer we are acknowledging that we are not in control but instead want God to be in control of this situation and all of our lives.
Think of an egg. I have a question for you. How can I eat an egg without cracking it? How? By having someone else crack it for me. Sometimes we can’t do everything for ourselves. We need someone else to help us. We can’t always control everything just the way we would like to. Realizing that we need help leads us to our second truth when dealing with our out of control lives.
2. Putting ourselves under the authority of God is an expression of faith. Jesus was amazed that the centurion didn’t need to see him physically present. He knew about authority and knew that if Jesus spoke the word that the servant would be healed.
A few years back our youngest daughter was sick and so I called the doctor’s office. I wasn’t sure if she needed to be seen by the doctor or not. I talked with someone at the office and then a nurse called me back. We briefly talked about her symptoms and I decided not to take her to the doctor then. I never did talk to the doctor. But the doctor, through the nurse, helped me with the situation.
Even when we can’t see God directly at work we need to put ourselves under the authority of God. We need to say, “O.K. God I don’t feel your presence, and it’s hard to imagine that you’re even here right now, but I know you are and I submit myself to your authority over me that I have given freely to you.” When we give God control of the situation we are in, even when we can’t feel His presence, God rejoices. It shows that we really do trust Him and have given our lives to Him.
The next story in Luke 7 is another out of control situation. Here we have a single Mom and life has just gotten even tougher.
Read Luke 7:11-17. Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, with a great crowd following him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The boy who had died was the only son of a widow, and many mourners from the village were with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said.
Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk to those around him! And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “We have seen the hand of God at work today.” The report of what Jesus had done that day spread all over Judea and even out across its borders.
It’s not easy to face the death of a loved one. When we have to keep getting up every morning and going on, we can find some comfort in Jesus’ reaction when he walked into this woman’s life and loss.
3. God’s heart breaks along with ours. This single Mom had already been dealing with raising her son alone. Her husband had died—she had had to deal with that loss—and now she was left alone. With the death of her son, she was not only alone but it would have been difficult for her to support herself.
Into the middle of that sorrowful scene, Jesus comes walking. In this crowd of mourners, Jesus heart breaks and goes out to this woman who had lost her son.
Some years ago a pastor by the name of Pastor Spurgeon took a gift to a farmer. It was a weather vane that said “God is love.” The farmer said, “What does this mean, that God’s love is as changeable as the wind?” “No,” said the Pastor, “it means that God is love whichever way the wind blows.”
God loves us and his heart breaks along with ours.
4. God helps us because we need help. This woman never asked Jesus for help. He helped her because she needed it.
You can’t put God in a box. Does He raise every dead son back to life? No. Does he heal every person who is close to death? No. Does He help everyone? Yes.
The reaction of the people to Jesus’ helping this woman by bringing her son back to life was awe and praise for God. They said, “We have seen the hand of God at work today.”
Whatever happens in life, no matter how out of control it is, we can know the God who is with us. The God who is with us is the God who is in control. That God is working for our good no matter how bad it looks to us. Today, whatever is happening in your life, letting Jesus take control will make all the difference.
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