[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's Word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to Him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 8:30 or 10:30am if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, find
[email protected] Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Before we could watch what was on TV Land or Nick at night, we had to sit through the news. And the reason that was is probably like a lot of your households is my dad was in charge of the remote control.
And so he made us sit there and watch the news for a while. I told the early crowd that I think part of it too was he wanted us in the living room, not just to watch the news, but when it was time to turn the channel. This is before the remote control, we had to walk to the TV and press a cable box. And I'll never forget, it took a lot of presses to get to number 27.
That was eventually where Nick at Night and TV Land found itself. But anyway, one of the things that I remember as a kid watching the news and kind of picking up on and noticing is, man, there are some pretty devastating things that are happening in our world.
There's some very heavy stuff that's happening across the seas, but there's also very difficult things that are happening in neighboring states and in our communities. And it's really hard even to see as a kid.
But I also remember watching some of those news networks and then also hearing about certain things that certain people did.
And whenever I would watch that and see these awful sins that people committed or these devastating acts that people took part in, I would think out loud, maybe, or actually maybe verbalize it.
I can't believe somebody would do something like that.
And maybe you've never verbalized this one, but after you said something like this, maybe you thought something like this and it went like this.
Well, that would never happen to me.
And I'll never forget how dad would exactly say it, but it was some rendition of something like this that the moment I saw that difficult thing on the news and once I saw that very difficult thing and awful thing that somebody did, and I would say, I can't believe somebody would do something like that, he would stop and kind of say, hey, Andrew, now, you might want to be careful saying that, you know, buddy, because if there's, like, an area of your life that is unchecked, if there's a corner of your life that you haven't guarded, you, too, could commit some of the worst of things.
And I thought, well, no, you know, that would never happen to me. And while I'm nodding my head, I'm thinking, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
But as we've dug into this text, but also as we go through scripture, what we'll find is it's true that those areas of our life that other people see, that we show, that are oftentimes our strengths.
If those areas of life are not approached with humility, and if those areas of life are not guarded, not our weaknesses, but our strengths can actually become some of our greatest liabilities.
Now, I have no clue if dad knew this quote, but there was this quote that I read several years ago that kind of stuck with me and really, truly stopped me in my tracks. And this is this quote that an unguarded strength can become a double weakness. I want to say that again.
An unguarded strength can become a double weakness. And part of the reason this stopped me in my tracks is I was like, well, that's kind of true. Because even growing up in the church, I know one thing that I often focused on, and maybe you did, too.
We tend to focus on the front door of the heart, right?
The part that other people see, which is good, which we should.
But sometimes we do that at the expense of ignoring the back door of the heart, that blind spot, or maybe that spot in our life that pride has caused us to miss.
But the other thing that I want us to think about for just a second is if you go throughout scripture, you'll probably notice a common theme, that when men and women fell, a lot of times what caused them to fall was actually not even their weaknesses.
It was their unguarded strengths.
Take, for instance, a guy in the Bible named Samson.
The Bible makes it very clear in Judges that when God raised up this young man from birth, the Bible says the spirit of the Lord was rushed upon him.
But then God not only gave him his spirit, but he also gave that man incredible strength. And the whole goal of that strength was to use God's spirit along with that strength to help rescue and guide and help a nation.
Now, personally, I kind of believe that the reason why God put Judges and all these broken heroes in there was to point us to a better hero, Jesus.
But what happened is this incredibly strong man, Samson, yes, he was a strong man physically. He used that strength to beat a whole army of people. With a jawbone of a donkey, he was able to tie a bunch of foxtails together.
And while that man was incredibly physically strong, he had a dangerously weak will. And because of that, he used his strength to hurt people. He used his strength to manipulate people.
And so that great strength he had actually ultimately became his downfall.
And so, as you go through scripture, you'll see people like Peter and you'll see people like Moses that experienced the same thing, too.
In fact, the way Oswald Sanders put it, he gave us some. Several sample scenarios. I want to give you a few, and maybe you can relate to one of these. The first one is the smart girl.
This girl grew up, and when she was growing up, she wasn't necessarily somebody that was really interested in athletics.
She wasn't somebody that was really good at music, didn't have, like, a musical ear or anything like that.
But even as a young kid, she started to realize, you know, if I make good grades, which I can do, and if I show other people how smart I am, I've noticed that with the good grades comes accolades at the end of the year at those presentations. When I do really good in school, comes the praise and the recognition. So she went all in on grades in school.
Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but what happened was, as she got older, that kind of, for her, became an idol.
And what happened was, is as she got near the high school age, near senior year, she wanted more than anything else to be valedictorian.
And so she studied more than anybody else. She worked harder than anybody else.
But it became such an idol that it was at the expense of church things, but also her own walk with God. And it was getting neglected. But guess what? She got exactly what she wanted. She was valedictorian. She got the honors. She got the praise. She got the recognition.
Well, then she went to college. It turns out there's a lot of smart people in college, people just as smart or even smarter than her.
And so now she had to work harder. She had to study more.
And so with that, what happened? Because her strength was unguarded, she actually struggled to stay awake at night to study. So she took some substances, and she struggled to go to sleep, and she took some substances there, too.
And little by little, she found herself in a path that she never thought she would find herself in. Her unguarded Strength actually became a double weakness.
And then there's the successful man.
When he was growing up, his brother was really, really good at everything.
And not that he was necessarily bad, but it was highlighted by the fact that his dad seemed to notice his brother a little bit more.
And so for him, this created a deep sense of insecurity. And so what he decided to do was, you know what? I'm just gonna do what I can do, and I'm gonna work harder than anybody else. And that's exactly what he did.
That young man worked harder than anybody else and worked his way up and work and work ethic for him, while a good thing, actually became an idol. And so what ended up happening in this young man's life, he got the job that everybody wanted, but what happened was his spiritual life suffered.
He was able to lead a big group of people. He was speaking on big stages.
And while he was able to, on the surface, lead other people, this man struggled to lead himself.
And so for him, what happened was his strength became a double weakness.
Well, then there was this one that I thought was pretty interesting that I would have never considered one. But he called her Merciful Mabel.
When she was growing up, she didn't receive a lot of compassion.
She didn't receive a lot of love.
And so because of that, she wanted to make sure everybody was loved, felt compassion. And so what Merciful Mabel did is anytime Merciful Mabel saw a need, she was meeting that need.
And what happened was to deal with her own insecurities. What she decided to do was to sign up for everything, to do everything, to meet every single one of the needs. So everybody got used to her just doing it.
But then when she didn't do it, she felt like, oh, no, people don't think I'm merciful enough. And as the author put it, that Mercy actually became an idol for her.
And the phrase he said was, mercy ran amok.
That Mercy went wild and destroyed her life.
Little by little. That unguarded strength in her life became a double weakness. But then there was the protector.
When he was a young kid, he remembers at Halloween putting on a police costume.
He remembers even around the house, what he would do is he would put on that fireman costume and run around. He wanted to be somebody one day that protected everybody.
And that's exactly what happened.
This man was a protector. He made it his job to be a protector.
And so while he was protecting other people's homes, he wasn't protecting his own. And while he was protecting other people's homes, he wasn't protecting his heart.
And what ended up happening with this man that was a protector is the very thing that he sought to protect was the very sin that he himself fell victim to.
That unguarded strength in his life eventually became a double weakness.
And then there was one of Jesus closest friends.
We would probably say he was in the inner circle. And if anybody knew Peter, it was Jesus. And if anybody knew Jesus, it was Peter.
And if you look In Mark, chapter 14, I think with a little bit of a blind eye to his pride, but also a little bit of a blind eye to that hidden corner of his heart, when Jesus said, guys, I'm gonna die.
And Jesus made it clear in Mark 14 when he said this in verse 27, you will all fall away.
Because it was written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered, but after I'm raised, I'll go up, and I will go before you to Galilee. Notice what Peter said.
Oh, they will all fall away, but I will not.
They, but I won't. And Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.
Peter being blind to that corner of his heart, and Peter also not addressing the pride that was in his own life, he did eventually fall asleep and denied Jesus not once, not twice, but three times that strength in his life, unguarded, became a double weakness.
See, the challenge of those strengths is you can rely on them for so long that what happens is that you get so focused, like we're going to see in the Book of Lamentations today, on your past victories.
You get so focused on the walls you've put up in your life, in your current successes, that there can literally be a storm that's knocking at your door and you miss it.
And the challenge is, is when you build your life only around those storms, maybe the external, the front door of the heart or whatever it might be, like we're gonna see it from these people in the Book of Lamentations, when those things are taken away, what do you have when there are no more high grades, when there is no more status, when there's not a higher job to go after, like that successful man than what is left.
And so what happens is that thing that you built your life around, or maybe even the thing that intentionally or unintentionally you bragged about, that thing that you saw as a shield, actually slowly becomes an anchor, and it causes you to sink.
So I want us to all think this morning about what strengths that are in Our life that we have that right now, we might not be guarding.
And as you think about that, I want us to think about it. Because one of the things that happens is if those things are ever off balance and we use one maybe more than the other, focus one more than the other, and they're used in excess, what's going to happen is it's going to have a very negative effect.
In fact, I'll just give you a few examples that maybe you are a person that is a very self confident leader. That's not necessarily always bad, but if you're not careful, that can actually lead to manipulation.
Maybe you're a person that really focuses on let's get as much done as we can. Again, not necessarily bad, but what can happen is you can rush stuff and sometimes you can make some errors.
Maybe for you, what it is, is you build your life around your own charisma and energy. Not necessarily bad, but what's the challenge of that? Not everybody likes your energy, not everybody appreciates the charisma.
Maybe part of it is that you focus so much around your financial status. But the challenge is if that's not guarded, it can lead to greed. And maybe you're a very detail oriented person. That's good, that's great. We need those people.
But if you're not careful, that can come across and actually be very micromanaging.
Maybe you're a very independent person and that's great. We need independent people. We need our introverts, we need our extroverts, whatever that is. But the challenge is if that independence is not carefully guarded, it could then lead to isolation. But what we're going to see today in Lamentations 4 is that when we're very self oriented and we're very self confident, it can actually lead to disobedience. And see, that's the Scene of Lamentations 4.
If you're new with us this morning, we have started a series several weeks ago on the book of Lamentations. And here's what set it all up.
For somewhere between 500 to 900 years, God's people, little by little, have been disobedient.
And so God had been more than patient, more than loving, more than kind. But what God did do is he allowed the enemies that were outside those walls to discipline what was happening inside the walls.
But the more you dig into the text, and I'm telling y', all the pictures we're going to read today, they're vivid, they kind of hurt your stomach a little bit. But I hope More than anything, what they do is they all wake us up to the importance of constantly auditing our lives, constantly addressing and looking for, being very vigilant, looking for those blind spots.
Because what happened for them is they were very confident in their walls. They were very confident in their goal, they were very confident in their past victories. They. They were very confident in their status. And so what happened was the greatest enemy was not outside the walls. The greatest enemy was in the walls. And it was not addressed for 5006-007008-00900 years.
And so what this text does is it helps us to understand what it looks like to live in disobedience. And not to address doesn't just hurt us, but hurts others. So here's what, what the text says. Beginning verse one, it says how the gold lost its luster.
The fine gold actually became dull. The sacred gems, they're now scattered on every single street corner. How the precious children of Zion, they were once worth their weight in gold. They are now considered pots of clay.
Now, there's some imagery that is very purposeful in here. Most scholars believe that the gold and the gems that are referred to in this text are referring to the gold and the gems that would have been in the tabernacle for worship, and now those are scattered. The other thought is that gold and gems symbolize, like, purity and security and status, and now those are scattered. Now, I'm not a gold expert, but what I do know happens with gold is that while gold doesn't necessarily tarnish, when gold is not properly taken care of, gold actually starts to grow a little bit dull.
And so that one thing that used to be pure is not.
And that one thing that used to seem to be their status and their security, they no longer see as status and security. In fact, it's just another part of the street.
And what's interesting is then he gives this illustration, and talk about a play on words. He says, you know, what was gold is now just a mere pot of clay. Here's why that's important. Do you remember In Jeremiah chapter 2, When God is trying to remind Jeremiah of how he can still do a good thing in the middle of an awful thing? He said, hey, what I want you to do, I want you to go to the potter's house.
And when you go to the potter's house, you're going to see a potter sitting on a wheel, and there's going to be this piece of clay. It's going to have some clumps in it. It's going to have some nastiness in it. It's going to have some rocks and some stems and some leaves. But what happens is, as he puts that in his hands, those impurities start to be removed. And it's actually this nasty thing is now made into this beautiful vessel in this text. He's kind of reversing it. And it's not because God has left his place sitting at the will. It's because God's people left sitting at the place of the will. And so what was a beautiful thing, a gold thing, has now become dull.
And so for each of us, that's what I want. I want us to identify the gold that's in our life.
I told the early crowd I thought about making this point, I want the gold. But some of you may not remember that funny video. But anyway.
But the point is this, to identify the thing in your life that you've sought out as maybe like your status, your security.
Maybe it is a work ethic thing. It's a charisma. It's your energy, your reputation.
And maybe you've been relying on that more than God. And so over time, that area becomes a liability.
And this is one of the heavier texts in this book because what happened was because they were a little bit arrogant about what was going on in here.
He gives one of the most difficult analogies that you can read in the Bible, because he's basically trying to make a point that even the most of compassionate people, if their hearts are unguarded, they too could also fall victim to some of the worst of sins.
And so it says this, even the jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young. He's basically saying even the animals are caring for their babies.
But the daughter of my people has become cruel. Well, how cruel?
Well, with their own hands, compassionate women have cooked their own children.
I told you, this is not necessarily something you read before bed. But this is a picture of what God is trying to help us to realize. That is a reality when we think in our mind. Well, that could never happen to me.
I can't believe somebody would do that. That unguarded strength in our life is possible to eventually become a double weakness.
You know, this analogy is hard for me partly because I do experience and get to see a very compassionate mother.
I love seeing my wife with our kids.
And that's why this analogy is hard. In fact, just the other day we were in the living room and Dulcie had her.
She was laying on the ground and I had a little blanket near her. And she stood up, put the blanket on her. And she looked at me. I was sitting here and Lorianne was sitting there, and she was looking at both of us. And I thought she was going to come to me. And I was like, you can come sit with daddy. She goes, well. And I was like. I knew what that meant, was like, well, no, that was not the plan.
But it was really sweet what she did next. She said, all right, well, I'll do any meenie miny mo. I was like, you know, well, if we do any mini mini miny moe, this can't go wrong, right? Because at least it's 50, 50 odds. So she did it. Any mini miny moe Catch a tiger by its toe if you holler let him go any meeny miny mo. And it landed on me. And then she went and walked to Mama.
I was like, you completely changed the rules of the game, you know, But I get it.
And the weight that I felt that moment was like, yeah, I understand. I get it.
Like, that's how striking of an illustration this is of what he's trying to help us understand about the reality of guarding every corner of our heart, even the most of compassionate people, the merciful Mabels that compassion, that mercy could actually go haywire.
So then the text says where it all kind of started from. It says this in verse 13, but it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priest, who shed within her the blood of the righteous. Now they walk through the streets like blind man.
One of the commentaries pointed out what Jesus experienced on this earth, which is a lot of the religious leaders during this time would parade around the streets their knowledge.
They would parade around the streets what they knew.
Nothing wrong with knowledge, nothing wrong with what they knew. But what happened was they got so fixated and focused on what they knew and their knowledge that they ignored those corners of their heart.
And it was kind of a play on words that now the guys that used to walk through the streets proclaiming what they knew now can't even walk, seeing through the streets.
Quite the reversal of fortunes. But isn't it a reminder that for all of us, no matter what area of life you lead in, because at the end of a day, leadership is not about a title, because you and I know people that have the title boss and manager doesn't make them a good leader.
That leadership at its core is about influence.
And it's important how we approach that influence. And if the goal of that influence is, I'm going to lead in order to Act.
I'm going to lead. In order to show what happens is when you use your talents or the ways that you've been blessed to act rather than serve, it eventually becomes a stumbling block.
And so in verse 17, it says that part of the root of how this happened, it says, well, our eyes failed.
They were looking around in vain for help. In our watching, we watch for a nation that could not save us. What he's saying is God was right there for the saving, but we kept looking for another nation.
God was right there to help us, but we kept looking to something else.
And I know this might be like the most obvious question to ever ask, but do we all believe that God is strong enough and powerful enough and mighty enough and loving enough to help us and to save us? Do we believe that?
I think we all do. But then, yet why at times do we turn to something else?
I don't know. Like, I can Google it and try to give you the best answer possible. I think sometimes it's pride, because then that would no longer make me in control.
Maybe part of it is I. It would cause maybe some time and some work to figure out what that blind spot is.
Maybe what it is is I'm a little nervous where that might lead.
It might make me change some stuff about myself.
I don't know what it is. But the reality is, if we're not careful, we can all make alliances with something else. We can all look to the nations, whether that be money, status, intellect, and turn to God. And those things eventually become a double weakness. So here's what's interesting.
I kind of thought it was random because you get this very vivid imagery about what happens when you don't address what's happening within the walls. Then all of a sudden, he brings up the Edomites, and I called it spiritual smack talk.
That this group of people that were part of the reason why they were living in this destruction, these were descendants of Esau, caused all kinds of harm on them. He's like, oh, you think that's funny?
Well, guess what?
It's coming for you, too. The guys outside the walls, it's coming for you, too. And I love this. Cause it's like, okay, good. A little bit of hope, a little bit of redemption in this. Because look what it says beginning in verse 21.
And this is sarcasm, by the way. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom.
You will dwell in the land of Uz, but to you also the cup shall pass. You shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.
The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished.
He will keep you in exile no longer. But your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, he will punish.
He will uncover your sins. Isn't it interesting that this text highlights how God is addressing the sin outside the walls, but he's also addressing the sin that inside the walls.
So remember when I told you when you watch the news, and it's very easy to say, how in the world could somebody do something like that?
Or how could somebody outside the walls do something like this?
Where do those strengths eventually become weaknesses? I think it's in two areas. Maybe it is a blind spot.
It's this area that maybe we haven't really noticed or thought of it as a potential stumbling block. Maybe for some of us, it's pride.
Well, just as a strength that is unguarded can become a double weakness, that liability in your life can also become a strength. And maybe for some of us, what it is, is we do need to be a little bit more vigilant with those blind spots. Maybe for some of us, what we do is we need to just ask for help.
Asking for help is not a weakness. It's wisdom that you need to say, hey, I need it. I can't fix this. I've tried to.
And the neat thing about all of this is that one thing in your life that was a liability, if you point it towards God, you point it in the right direction, that liability can eventually become a strength.
When we started this series, one of the things that we talked about is that the point of Lamentations is not be sad.
The whole point of Lamentations is be sad with God. But maybe more specifically, let your heart break for what breaks God's heart.
This was a poem meant to be read to express and connect what we feel. But we don't know how to express sometimes what we feel.
And so may the words on this page that we just read highlight a need, but also a reality of those moments and places that are in our life that we kind of push to the side or sweep under the rug.
Maybe you're here this morning and you kind of feel a little bit like maybe the smart girl, the successful man.
Maybe you feel like the apostle. Maybe you feel like merciful Mabel, and you have this strength in your life that you just haven't guarded yet. Maybe for some of you, you've never made that decision to give your life to Christ.
So go into the watery grave of baptism and become out brand new and to be given the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And the challenge is because you haven't made that decision, you're working off of willpower. And Satan loves some willpower, because if he can get you to rely on you, he knows you're not going to rely on a greater power.
And so maybe you've never made that decision. And so you've been in the control center and you've seen where that's gotten you.
Whatever it is that you have in need of today to ask for prayers, you can go to one of the exits back here, one of the shepherds, or you can come down front. Whatever you have a need of, please come while we stand and we sing this song.
