June 3, 2018

JRCC

The Bible Doesn’t Say That

“Will God Give You More Than You Can Handle”

Text: 1 Cor. 10:12-13, 2 Cor. 1:3-11

Focus: Dependence on God and others.

What Will God Give You?

Welcome to part 2 of our 4-part sermon series titled, “The Bible Doesn’t Say That.”

• This is a series where we examine seemingly good advice or wisdom that’s masquerading as Scriptural truth.
• Quotes that are often passed along on social media with the best of intentions … phrases that are intended to inspire or comfort and sound like they have their origin “somewhere in the Bible.”
• But if you were to apply these “truths” to your life, you would actually discover that they end up being incongruous with truth and real life.
• As a result, they actually end up confusing your relationships and misdirecting your daily life.
• Why? Well, because “The Bible Doesn’t Say These Things”.
• Or as Sophie McDonald says, “Anything meant to be a comfort [actually] becomes a confine when it isn’t based in Scripture.”

Case in point – who has ever had a circumstance, a moment, or a time in life, where you genuinely felt/believed/knew that you were at the end of your rope?

• You were/are facing something and you’ve come to that place where you are telling yourself, “I can’t handle this!”
• Or let me ask that question from the other side.
• Who has gone their entire life never needing help, being able to navigate every situation, every relationship, every challenge and handle it well on your own?

• Most of you have heard my story…
• And you know that I am the first person standing in the line of “I can’t handle this … I need help”.
• In fact, I am willing to say that anyone who tells you that they have it all together, can face everything at all times, never feels overwhelmed … is inept at living life and is in store for a very severe blast of reality, be it in their future life or when they die and face their Creator.

The stark truth is that we’ve all thought or spoken the phrase, “I can’t handle this anymore” in the midst of life’s challenges.

• And in those moments, many of us have also heard or spoken something that the Bible simply doesn’t say, “You can do this because God won’t give you more than you can handle.”
• It’s meant to be a comfort.
• It’s meant to give us hope and resolve.
• But in reality, it leads down a path of self-doubt, self-chastisement, heightened self-reliance or deep self-defeat … all the while dismantling your relationship with God.

So where do we get this untrue idea that “God will never give you more than you can handle”?

• Turn with me in your Bibles/devices to 1 Corinthians 10.

• The context for this chapter is one of sin and temptation.
• Paul is relating OT Israel’s propensity for idolatry to the current context of temptation.
• He is saying to the church in Corinth, look, others have travelled down this road of sin and temptation before and we can learn from them.
• The outcome is always the same … anyone who decides that they want to worship something other than God (i.e. idolatry) will suffer the same outcome as the Israelites suffered = judgment due to broken relationship with God.

• Look at vs. 12 (New Living Translation)

¹² If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. ¹³ The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. ¹⁴ So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.

(English Standard Version)

¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

(New International Readers Version)

¹³ You are tempted in the same way all other human beings are. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted any more than you can take. But when you are tempted, God will give you a way out. Then you will be able to deal with it.

You can see where people get the words to create this phrase, “God will never give you more than you can handle.”

• In fact, the word “temptation” (peirasmos in Greek), can actually refer to both sin and suffering.
• So you could actually make a case to translate this word as “suffering” or “testing”, which would then change the meaning of this verse.
• But friends, we know that we can never isolate a word/phrase from its context, because many words have multiple meanings depending on their usage.
• For example, if I simply walk up to you and say, “Beat it”.
• Am I asking you to go away? Or am I referring to my favorite Michael Jackson song from the 80s?
• When it comes to rules of interpretation, I can intend to communicate one or the other meaning, but not both at the same time.

• And this principle applies to 1 Corinthians 10:13.
• Either Paul is talking about temptation and sin, or he’s talking about suffering and trials.
• From the context of the chapter, it is abundantly clear that he’s talking about temptation and sin.
• The verse is telling us that God will always provide a way to overcome temptation (i.e. we can either challenge it with his power, or we can run away/flee from it).
  • It doesn’t mean that we will always choose wisely and succeed, but it does mean that God will always be faithful on his part to give us the opportunity to overcome temptation and avoid sin.
  • We are not forced to live as slaves to sin!
  • God’s power and grace is the amazingly good news of this verse.

Now, does this also mean that life will always be easy and that God will never give us more than we can handle?

• The context of the chapter doesn’t say that at all.
• In fact, a look at the broader context of the letters to the Corinthians, which includes Paul’s own life experiences … and the context of our own lives as the readers of this text … tells us the opposite is actually true.

• Turn over to 2 Corinthians 1

³ All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. ⁵ For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. ⁶ Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. ⁷ We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.

⁸ We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. ⁹ In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. ¹¹ And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.

Why Does God Give Us More than We Can Handle?

Despite what we would like to believe about ourselves … despite what society teaches about “self” and “inner strength” … despite what we want our heroes, including spiritual heroes, to look like…

• No one, me and you included, goes through life without facing more than we can handle.
• All of us will come to a place of submission where we say, “I can’t handle this God! No more! I’m ready to tap out!”
• Why?
• Why does God give us more than we can handle?
• You may be in that very place right now.
• Or you may be living with the consequences of past suffering that you simply couldn’t handle.
• Why? Why does God give us more than we can handle?
• Let’s re-read vss. 9-11…
• Paul gives us a few reasons as you process the “Why”.

The first has to do with discipleship.

• Being a disciple/follower of Jesus is a process of discipleship.
• Discipleship is the maturing/growing of our faith relationship with God.
• When we were first introduced to Jesus we were drawn by and learned basic truths of our relationship with God:
  • we are sinners and sin breaks our relationship with God
  • doing “good” doesn’t resolve/cure this break
  • we need a Saviour to restore relationship with God
  • Jesus died on the cross and rose again as that Saviour.
• And from there we begin a relationship of learning and growing in our trust/faith/relationship with God.
• It’s kind of like a first date where you get to know who the other person is and you tell them who you are and you decide if you are going to pursue a deeper relationship.
• Our initial faith is designed to grow so that we can know and experience God more fully and so that we can become more like his Son, Jesus.
• We grow, through successes, accomplishments, challenges, trials and suffering.
• Each circumstance has the potential to move us closer to our ultimate purpose and goal … eternity with our Creator God.

Now I say that each challenge has the “potential” for our good.

• But we know from the beginning of Scripture and throughout our own lives that we have a propensity to go our own way.
• We live in a world that encourages us to be our own person, establish our own identity and path.
• And when we falter, we are told to try again … you can do anything you decide you want to do … just keep trying.

• But the logical conclusion of this philosophy in life is that if you are encountering something that is too much for you to handle…
  • then it must be someone else’s fault
  • or something must be wrong with you.
• Neither are always healthy conclusions and in fact, are contrary to what we read in Scripture.
• Friends, one of the primary themes of the Bible is that “our self-reliance needs to die” as we relate to God.
• The very thing that Satan tempted Adam & Eve with remains one of the greatest obstacles between us and God.
• We are so wonderfully/incredibly made that we can rule over the entire earth and we can envision the possibility of needing no one but ourselves to “succeed” in life!
• And yet Scripture, from beginning to end, is about faith in God, trusting in God, living by God’s wisdom, leading, power, strength, mercy, grace … we are called to “deny ourselves” and follow Jesus in every way.
• But we believe that we can do better for ourselves than what God can do for us because we know ourselves better than we know our God … and so we rely on ourselves instead of God.
• So God mercifully gives us more than we can handle, in order to break down our destructive/false belief in self … our self-reliance that only isolates and distances us from God.

The other side of God giving us more than we can handle is that we can also learn more about his character/who he is.

• We learn that God is faithful.
• We learn that He is a God of mercy and grace.
• We learn that God is love … unconditionally and immeasurably.
• We learn that God never leaves us … even when people do … even when we cannot see/understand … God is present.
• We learn that God doesn’t have a limit to how long or how much he will care for us
  • he doesn’t tap out if hardship is too long/severe
  • he’s staying with you through it because he wants to spend eternity with you.

Friends, we are just scratching the surface of why God gives us more than we can handle in life.

• And while these hardships are inevitable and never pleasant, there is always a greater purpose for our good at work.
• So what can we do when life is more than we can handle in order for us to be able to realize the benefits on the other side?
• And let me just say that these are things we need to be doing not only when we are in the midst of challenging situations.
• Friends, we need to be practicing these in preparation for life’s challenging times as well.
• If we don’t establish these practices/disciplines before challenges/crisis arise, we will most likely turn to our innate default mode = which is self-reliance or blame … both of which are ultimately destructive in nature.

What to do When God Gives Us More than We Can Handle

So what can we practice today in our daily lives that will also serve us well in challenging times?

First, pray/talk to God.

• One of Jesus’ primary tasks was to teach his disciples to pray.
• More so than performing miracles, or winning arguments with the Pharisees, than seeking justice for the oppressed …
• Jesus wants us to be in ongoing communion/conversation with the Father (just as he was/is).
• Prayer/conversation removes the obstacles to obedience and relationship with God.
• Sometimes those obstacles are external and sometimes they are internal … prayer changes us and how we overcome them.
• Prayer gives us clarity, eternal perspective, hope, desire and courage to obey and lead the way.
• Prayer as a pouring out of our souls in times of desperation is always received by God with empathy, grace and hope.
• And while this is a deeply personal transaction, prayer always has a communal component to it.

When Jesus was pouring out his soul to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of his betrayal and impending death on a cross, he asked his friends to pray with him.

• He engaged his friends and asked for their help.

• Our natural inclination is to isolate ourselves when we feel weak, hurt or betrayed.
• Our natural tendency is to put on a mask/façade and fake it ‘till we make it.
• We want to be the fixer … we want to be the one others ask for help, rather than the one asking for help.
  • Just the other day, someone came up to me and started the conversation by saying, “I just hate asking for help…”
• Why is that so hard for us (me included)?
  • Because it’s messier
  • It diminishes our inner “superhero” complex
  • It makes us vulnerable
  • It makes us accountable
  • It ties us to someone else…

• YES! It does all those things!
  • It’s called living in authentic community!
  • It’s called being a disciple/follower of Jesus.
  • It’s called being God’s people and loving each other in a way that the rest of the world will notice and be drawn to God!

When life is more than you can handle, you need to be praying and asking for help … and you need to receive.

• Let God do what he does best – redeem broken things.
• Let others speak truth & healing into your life.
• Let others actively take some of the burden (Galatians 6:2) and be thankful that they are there to do so.

I assure you that no matter who you are or what the dynamics of your life are like, there will be more than you can handle.

• If you are married, single, divorced … there’s more than you can handle.
• If you are a parent … there’s more than you can handle.
• If you are a student, an accountant, or even retired … there’s more than you can handle.
• If you are making minimum wage or six figures … there’s more than you can handle.
• If you are in full-time ministry or volunteering … there’s more than you can handle.
• If you are 5 years old, 15 years old or 50 years old … there’s more than you can handle.

But you weren’t created to live life on your own … you are not being asked to “handle it” … and if you are trying to then STOP!

• Acknowledge/come to grips with your humanity.
• Acknowledge/come to grips with God’s divinity.
  • Acknowledge/come to grips with the fact that prayer connects the two.
• Acknowledge/come to grips with the truth that you are created to live in community.