Would you like to visit this beach?
What about this one?
But neither one is the whole picture…this is.
How you frame a thing is what that thing becomes to you.
If you are reading through the NT you read this recently…Matthew 7
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
What are we to do with that?
You can frame it like this:
“I asked God to heal my loved one and my loved died one…I asked for bread and I got a stone.”
What are we to do with verses like this?…In the actual world of pain, death, hospitals, and graveyards.
Look…let’s be real in here, or let’s just admit that this is all nonsense and quit playing at it…let’s do something else on a Sunday morning…a lot of people are.
I started working on some materials for kids who have been hurt…by people who are supposed to help and love them.
Which can make it very hard to trust God.
Here is my opening paragraph so far…
“God, if you are really there I need your help right now.”
Have you ever prayed that prayer? What happened when you prayed it? Did God help you? Maybe some bad things still happened even though you prayed so hard that they wouldn’t. Maybe some good things that you really wanted to happen, didn’t happen. If you feel like God didn’t answer a very important prayer it is easy to believe that he isn’t real or that if he is real, he doesn’t care about you.
You ever feel that way?
“I asked for bread, I got a stone…so…?”
How we frame our lives is how we see them…what if that frame is too small to encompass reality as it is?
Is Jesus promising that everything I ask for; he has to give me?
That all my requests are “bread” and every time God doesn’t say yes, it’s a stone?
No, that’s unreasonable…we know that’s not true…at least we should.
But is it unreasonable to ask him to protect my loved ones…or to stop this evil that someone is inflicting on me?
That’s no small thing…isn’t that bread?
So, we can frame this in a way that all seems like garbage…a very small frame…but is that real?
Isn’t life much more than that?
Or we can frame it in a way that’s all sunshine…but that’s also a too small frame.
That’s pretending to ignore our pain and suffering.
Neither of those frames is true to Scripture.
The Bible continually forces us to have a larger frame around life.
Maybe we need a wider frame to see what truly is…bread.
Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry.”
John 6:35
Is that a cop out…are we trying to bail Jesus out…by over spiritualizing deep pain.
“Oh well, you may be totally devasted, but at least you have that promise of Jesus as bread.”
“What does that mean?”
No, really…What does it mean?
Look…we are not bailing Jesus out…trying to make ourselves feel better about what seems to be a broken promise.
When we realize that he is the bread of life…this is the gospel…the good news.
It means he, ultimately gives us spiritual new birth, restored relationship with God…forgiveness, purpose, hope…all of it.
He will not turn anyone away who comes to him…he will give no stones to those who ask for the life that he offers.
He will answer some prayers…I’ve seen it, so have you…so we pray…but of course he will not give everything we might want.
We ask for what we want, we trust for what he gives…because ultimately…he is what we want to want…he is what we need the most.
In his letter to Timothy, Paul frames life with the expansive frame of the gospel.
As Timothy is faced with enemies, and arrogant but winsome mockers who try to undermine him at every turn, and as he deals with his own fears and insecurities…Paul knows that the frame around Tim’s life can become smaller and smaller.
More and more he will be tempted to make life about himself…his fears, his abilities, his inabilities…his pain.
Listen as Paul frames things for Timothy to help him thrive in his ministry and life.
1 Timothy 1:12-17
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
Now that is an expansive vision…but wait…not expansive enough for Timothy to see his life and challenges and opportunities as they actually are…the frame has to become much larger.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
You can frame that and put in on your wall…better yet… memorize that and let it frame your life.
Let’s walk through the passage and zero in on the ways Paul frames life, in order to cast vision for Timothy.
Frame #1, Christ is the source of your strength in ministry and in life.
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.
When I was a younger man, I was often overly self-confident…I shared the gospel frequently…a number of my college friends came to Christ.
I had a pretty quick tongue; I had it all figured out…and I was able to win some arguments
I loved God, and I loved people…but I trusted myself…way, way too much.
A mentor asked me…without any sense of ill will…with humility and love…”Terry, I wonder if you will ever get to the place in your life where you rely on God and not on yourself?”
I didn’t answer him…but I remember thinking…”Yeah, I wonder that too.”
Self-confidence won’t take you very far in ministry.
Maybe it will take you far in building a business, coaching a football team…you may even gather a crowd, build a church, have a big/small group because of “self” gifts and abilities
…but in gospel ministry
…a ministry that is literally about our great need for God, that we have nothing to offer him, that he needs nothing from us…we need everything from him.
In that gospel ministry…self-confidence is absurd, and self-defeating.
Paul, in his former life…was self-confident…and bold and convinced…and wrong.
He later thought about his life in this way…”I came in weakness so your faith will not rest on me but on God.”
“Whatever was once to my profit, what I used to put my confidence in… I now consider it all rubbish.”
But Paul is framing life and ministry for Timothy…who lacks confidence in himself…he isn’t arrogant or self-assured, so he is okay…right?
No, he isn’t like self-confident Paul…but the root problem is the same.
You see, you might be timid, not confident at all…and you shrink back from faithfulness with the gospel because you don’t think you have much to offer.
You are afraid of looking dumb, or being asked a question you can’t answer, or someone saying, “Who are you to preach to me, look at your life.”
I could ask you the same question that my friend asked me,
“I wonder if you will ever get to the place in your life where you rely on God and not on yourself?”
You see whether we are full of self-confidence or full of self-doubt…we are still full of self.
Self-confident or self-conscious…either way is self-focused living.
I told my friends on New Years Eve…I want the boldness of my youth, minus the stupidity of my youth.
I was largely clueless…and I know some things now, I have learned some things about God and how to trust him…but I’ve also forgotten, in too many ways…how to be bold in the gospel.
Christ is the source of strength for your life and ministry…self-confidence, or self-doubts…both are just flip sides of the same coin.
Train to trust his strength in you.
Frame #2, Jesus saves sinners!
When we were in Denver visiting with our daughter and son in law over the holidays… I had coffee with an old friend I had not meet with for many years.
We spent 2.5 hours catching up on about 25 years.
He was suffered…a lot.
And he has seen God do a lot…really some amazing, encouraging things.
So, like everyone I know who walks with God…his life has been a mixture of really hard and really good things.
He told me the story of a man who has been resistant to the gospel…my friend had shared with him many times with no visible effect.
This man’s wife recently left him and he called my friend, finally realizing that he needed what he didn’t have in himself.
My friend got his message but told me, “Terry I was tired of foxhole conversions that never panned out.”
He didn’t call him back right away… in his desperation this man called a random ministry telephone hotline.
He told the young man on the other end of the phone what he was going through.
It turned out it was this young phone counselor’s first time to actually talk with anyone.
The young phone counselor said, “Well, you need Jesus.”
“I know” was the reply, “Aren’t you supposed to lead me in a prayer or something?”
Turns out it was all legit…when my friend finally called him he told him the whole story…he was baptized and has been following Jesus.
I told my friend…I need to be more faithful in sharing Jesus with others…tell me what you have learned these past few years.
This is a guy who is really smart, knows theology and apologetics…he said…
“Well…I pray, I try to see where God is moving in people around me and join him.”
What else?
“Anymore I usually just go straight to, You need Jesus, he alone can save you.”
Here is frame #2…simplicity on the other side of all the complexity…”Jesus saves sinners.”
Paul writes…”Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance”
He does this several times in his letters, it like Jesus saying, “Truly I say to you.”
It’s not like when he doesn’t say that…he isn’t telling the truth.
This is a “foot stomp” moment.
Think of a coach saying, “Hey, Listen up!”
It’s not like Paul doesn’t care if you don’t listen to other things…it means he is about to say something especially important…some bottom-line stuff…is coming.
Hey, Timothy…listen up!
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
Jesus came to save sinners…of whom I am the worst.
He did this to display his what?
Judgment, power, justice…no, his unlimited patience.
As we slogged through the painful failings of God’s people in the Old Testament last year…we learned that God’s signature attribute was patience.
It was highlighted by the Prophet’s constant refrain…”God is slow to anger.”
In Romans 5 Paul wrote, that God demonstrates his love for us in this…while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
We are the church; our mission is the great commission…it is literally why we exist.
“All authority on heaven and earth has been given you, therefore…go, make disciples of the nations, teaching them to obey all I have commanded you. I am with you always…to the very end.”
When we are on mission as individuals, as married couples, as a church…we have very little time for nonsense.
Pettiness and division are common for Christians and churches who have left the front line.
It is virtually absent in those who live faithfully in line with God’s mission.
When we remember that Jesus saves sinners…all kinds of sinners.
And that we are sinners saved by Jesus…the frame around our lives becomes much, much larger.
Let this frame your life and ministry…Jesus saves sinners…even the very worst of the worst.
That changes how you see others around you, as well as how you see yourself.
“From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view, though we once regarded even Christ this way…if anyone is in Christ he is a brand-new creation.”
Okay, that is a large frame…isn’t that large enough for Timothy to do well in ministry and life?
Not quite…it needs to get larger still.
Because Timothy is going to have a hard time… new believers will turn on him, some people he invests deeply in will fall away.
Some impressive people will try to intimidate him.
Maybe he won’t see visible fruit in his ministry.
Maybe he will work and work…and people will leave for other churches, or critique his sermons, or think he is a terrible small group leader.
He needs a frame that is large enough for any and everything that will come his way.
He needs a frame that is large enough to trust God when he feels like he gets a stone when he was starving for bread.
A frame that is not make believe…but actually frames what is real so he can thrive in that reality.
So here is frame #3
Frame #3: Jesus is the King over all!
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
As he contemplates how Jesus saves sinners, of which he was the worse… he breaks into a doxology…a spoken liturgy of praise.
Dozens of times as I was asked to pray in military settings…retirements, promotions, commander calls…I often ended my prayer with this prayer.
There was a lot of controversy over whether chaplains should pray in Jesus’ name.
I thought it was all rather silly…”In his name” means in his authority.
I am a Christian…all my prayers are “in his name”…he is the reason I can go directly to God.
I would often end my prayers with this prayer…though it doesn’t say the name of Jesus…it is clearly about his majestic authority over all things.
And since this is literally a Biblical prayer, with an “Amen” on the end…I would say you are firm ground to use it yourself.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
It is such a concise, precise…framing prayer.
He is the KING…the eternal, unchanging, King.
This Caesar, this King…he will be dead.
So will that one and the next one.
As will our current president and the next and the next.
Every time you use paper money you are handling the image of a long dead president…except for a $100 bill, a Benjamin…Ben Franklin wasn’t a president…but he was very important and he is long dead.
God towers over all times, and eternity itself as our sovereign King.
“Timothy…don’t be impressed or intimidated by that person…you know the King, he knows you.”
He is invisible…though he shows up in visible fashion in the world he oversees.
He is invisible because he is Spirit…he is not bound by time and space…he made it…he is unchanging.
Everything physical, everything around us changes…he does not.
He is the foundation that never moves.
Timothy was surrounded by the countless gods that humans create and worship…gods made in our image.
But there is only one true God…we are made in his image.
He has made himself known to you…you are not guessing about all this…you know.
You know what life is about, you know what happens when this life is over.
To that King, alone be honor and glory forever…to God alone be honor and glory…TODAY.
Today as you deal with that knucklehead who wants to argue and be a contrarian…
Today as you struggle with your timidity and fear…
Today as your body breaks down…
Today as you feel like you needed bread and got a stone…
Today…which is certainly part of forever…today, “God, to you be honor and glory.”
That is the only frame large enough to fully encompass reality as it is.
I sat with Troy Richey in the hospital on Wednesday…he has walking pneumonia only he can’t walk…he is confined to a wheelchair.
He told me more about his life than I had heard before, his many years of pain…and of faith.
He cried, and he laughed…and he proclaimed the gospel.
He said, “My body is broken, but my soul belongs to Jesus…I trust him.”
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God…be honor and glory forever.
And today…this day is a part of forever.
We are not playing at this; we must not play at this.
- Jesus is our strength
- Jesus saves sinners
- Jesus is the true king
Frame your life with those truths.