The Vineyard Church of North Grand Rapids, MI

My Garden is a Mess Too!
The Shack Series #5

1. We're halfway through our fall spiritual growth campaign here at VN. It's probably a good time to ask, "Can anyone remember why we're doing this?" You don't have to be 53 like I am to have the frustrating experience of rushing out to the garage or down to the basement, only to forget what it was you were going to get. This happens to church goers all the time. We get busy in the Sunday-go-to-church routine and come to mornings like this and wonder, "Why are we doing this again?"

2. If a complete stranger asked you, "What are you doing here?" what would you say? Why did you get dressed up, come to this place, sit down in this room, sing those songs, give that money? What is this about? Help me understand the big picture here.

a. Someone observing you in your row might say, "Clearly you're passion about this. Why do you invest in this weekly routine?

b. Someone in another row might say, "Frankly, you don't seem that stirred up by what's going on in the room. Why are you here?"

3. I'd say: "To use a metaphor, "I'm gardening. Our lives really are like gardens that require-as all gardens do-constant tending. To have a garden is to always be planting and weeding and watering and digging and cutting and trimming and fertilizing. I invest in my spiritual life here on Sunday mornings because I'm working on a beautiful garden-my life with God!

The coming early to pray and eat the Lord's Supper, that's really about turning over my heart's soil and preparing myself to receive the seeds of God's grace. The singing thoughtfully and passionately-that's really a time of watering and fertilizing the seeds of faith, hope, and love that God has planted in my heart. The teaching is sometimes an investment in weeding, sometimes an opportunity to plant something new in my life, sometimes an opportunity to expand the borders of my garden, my faith, my life. The prayer ministry-that's often like sitting in my garden after an afternoon of digging around, watching the flowers and bushes turn this way and that in the gentle breeze of God's Spirit.

4. Sound sappy? Jesus frequently compared his ministry-his kingdom-to gardening and farming, to planting and harvesting. Paul, the Apostle, described the Christian life as a process of patient sowing and reaping. Galatians 6:7-9 states, "People reap what they sow. Those who sow to please their sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; those who sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up". If you don't like what your life looks like right now-well then, start weeding out the old growth, planting new seeds, and watering. You'll be rewarded for your efforts. God puts his guarantee on that.

I. PLEASE REMIND ME: Why are we here again? Galatians 6:7-9

A. We're here to roll up our sleeves and dig into the gardens of our lives with Mackenzie Allen Phillips, the main character in the popular book The Shack. This morning I'm launching our Bible teaching from chapter nine in The Shack, where Mack follows the Holy Spirit-who appears as a mystical, ethereal Asian woman in this fictional story-into a beautiful but overgrown, messy but colorful, wild but amazing garden. Let me read from the first few paragraphs of chapter 9 (pp 128-130)

B. After working up a sweat, cutting and clearing a spot in the garden (which later turns out to be the place where his daughter Missy's body will be laid to rest), Mack turns to Sarayu, the Holy Spirit and says that he feels strangely at home and comfortable in this garden. Sarayu looks up at Mack, smiles, and says, "And well you should Mackenzie, because this garden is your soul. This mess is you. Together, you and I we have been working with a purpose in your heart. And it is wild and beautiful and perfectly in process. To you it seems like a mess, but to me, I see a perfect pattern emerging and growing and alive-a living fractal".

C. The Shack is a piece of controversial fiction; but in many points, it conveys the Bible's teaching in authentic ways. The book suggests that our lives are like gardens where we all are in process, working with God to bring beauty out of chaos. Our lives are a mixture of old dead unergrowth and overgrown plants that need to be cut away and, new shoots and blooms of unexpected beauty-planted by God-that need to be watered and cultivated. Within our lives and relationships, you can find both--thorny weeds and delicate flowers, slimy mushrooms growing in the shadows and bushes flaming in the sunshine with vibrant colors. Our lives are a mess of color and dazzling beauty. And so, we come together on mornings like this to roll up our sleeves, and dig into our heart soil to work with the Holy Spirit to grow something new. PRAY.

II. MY LIFE IS A MESS: What keeps you going-digging, weeding, cutting, planting, hoping? Romans 2:4

A. If you were to say to Mack, "I'm tired of working on my life. What keeps you going?" What do you think Mack would say? If you complained to Mack, "I thought being a Christian would be easier than this. I thought being married or having kids or serving in a church would be easier than this. For as long as I've been a Christian, I've still got so many struggles and issues and weaknesses and secrets and disappointments . . . that I don't know if I want to keep digging and cutting and weeding and planting and watering and waiting" . . . what do you think Mack would say?

B. I think Mack would say, "What kept me going that weekend at the Shack was Papa's kindness. I was angry and sad and frustrated and-at a few moments-ready to explode with rage. But just then, Jesus would reach across the table, Papa would smile, and Sarayu would invite me to share my thoughts and feelings without fear of punishment. And, by the time Papa brought out dessert, we'd all be laughing again. It was really different. I expected God to treat me with the kind of disappointment and anger I myself brought to the table and, instead, I found inexplicable, overwhelming kindness-you know: grace that rings like laughter, grace that tastes like great food, grace that feels like real friendship. That's God's kindness-grace wrapped in friendship..

C. In Romans, chapter 2, the Apostle Paul lets us know that God is disappointed and angry over mankind's rebellion and sin. But, when we you or I or even the worst sinner turns to God to reconnect or to ask for help, God responds-not with irritation or anger, but-with kindness. In Romans 2:4, Paul writes that God's kindness is intended to lead us to repentance. Just when your conscience is condemning you and you're starting to wonder if God might be getting up from his easy chair to smite you, he smiles and asks if you'd like to share a pizza.

D. ILLUS: You think that's a stretch? II Kings 6-the King of the Arameans sends out his army to track down the Prophet Elisha and kill him because, by revelation, Elilsha had foiled their plan to ambush the king of Israel. When the army is ready to attack Elisha, Elisha asks God to strike the soldiers blind and God does so. But instead of taking advantage of their blindness and killing them (as Israel's enemies), Elisha leads them down a path to a specially prepared feast (not a sack lunch, a feast!). After freely eating and drinking together, Elisha sends the soldiers back home as friends. An unexpected kindness turns ancient enemies into new friends.

E. So what keeps a 21st Century Christian from settling down into passivity, disappointment, and bitterness? What keeps us working on our weaknesses? What keeps us partnering with God in new seasons of repentance and growth? God's amazing kindness demonstrated at the cross where Jesus died for you and men, painted in the beauty of this weekend's weather, communicated in the songs we've sung together this morning. Revealed in the lives of men and women sitting near you who are still giving and serving and caring after all these years!

TRANS: That's good news, but the mess in our lives is pretty big-bigger than most of our friends realize. Our failures have the power to make us blush. Most of us need a lot of grace-an extra measure of kindness. So let's ask . . .

II. HOW DEEP IS GOD'S WELL OF KINDNESS? Romans 7:14-8:2 (READ)

When Paul wrote this letter to the Christians living in Rome, he had been a Christian for over 20 years. How many of you have been a Christian for 20 years or more (please raise your hands). Many of us turned to Jesus in repentance years ago because we were struggling. We saw our weaknesses, our sinfulness, and our guilt. We were lonely and afraid. So, we turned to Jesus in faith. We brought Bibles, joined churches, and began to sings songs about trading our sorrows for his peace and joy. We thought that our journey to Christian maturity would take us down a straight path to strength and success, victory and peace. W expected that within five years-ten at the most-we'd be spiritually mature. Younger Christians would come to us for counsel and we'll smile like spiritual fathers and mothers and tell the amazing stories of how-with God's help-we conquered lust after reading a book with the guys, overcame gossip with a few friends in a prayer circle, broke through fear and depression in seven steps, got victory over greed in a prayer time at the altar, stopped smoking and drinking and overeating after attending revival meetings in Toronto. We expected that at reaching maturity, we'd have traded all our sorrows for complete joy, all our messes for transcendent, abiding beauty. That's how it is for you, right?

Listen to the Apostle Paul write about his own, very real inner struggles after 2o years on the journey (vv. 14-24). Could a real Christian be writing these words? Absolutely, if he wasn't a real Christian, he wouldn't be struggling so profoundly with his sinfulness. But is this person healthy, spiritual Christian? Absolutely! He delights in God's law (v. 22). But, does this personal have a real, living faith in Jesus? Yes (v. 25).

Romans 7 is the Apostle Paul's personal testimony. The better he got to know Jesus, the more he was aware of his own weakness and sinfulness. Have you ever wondered why Paul would call himself the least of the Apostles (I Corinthians 15:9), the least of all the saints (Ephesians 3:8), or the worst of sinners (I Timothy 1:15)? The farther Paul went on with Jesus, the more intimate his relationship with God became, the more he recognized how weak he was, how much his sinfulness was still with him, and how much he needed God's grace and kindness.

How deep is the well of God's kindness?

A. There is no shame for being human (7:14-24) . . . for admitting that for all the good things God has done and is doing in our lives, we still struggle to live up to the Scriptures, to overcome the past, to stay focused on the future, and keep our promises to those we love. The Apostle Paul was the smartest and strongest and most fruitful of all the New Testament's Spirit-filled leaders. God is still revealing his kindness through Paul's transparency here. God made you, God saved you, God knows you, God loves you . . . and he knows that you're human-like Paul. There's no shame in being a regular guy or gal whose garden contains great beauty but is still-frankly-a big mess.

ILLUS: One of the greatest church leaders of the 19th century, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who moved in Holy Spirit, miracle power wrote, "There are some professing Christians who can speak of themselves in terms of admiration; but, from my inmost heart, I loathe such speeches more and more every day that I live. Those who talk in such boastful fashion must be constituted very differently than me. While they are congratulating themselves, I have to lie humbly at the foot of Christ's cross, and marvel that I am saved at all".

B. There is no disgrace for being rescued (7:24-25) . . . Sure, if you were tougher than the toughest, then perhaps you could live a perfect life and never hurt the people you say you love, or break your promises, or give less than your best. If you were a spiritual Rambo you would never hide your failures, always tell the whole truth about everything and, never indulge in anything or catch a look or take a smoke or a toke or something that really belongs to the company.

But, Paul cries out like a wounded soldier who knows that he will never make it home if someone doesn't take the risk to rescue him from this civil war that rages within him. And so Paul gives praise to God for sending Jesus, like a Navy Seal, into enemy territory to rescue Paul. And Paul writes that the rescue mission is still on. Yes, Jesus reached out to Paul and took hold of him and saved him over 20 years earlier, but Jesus is still saving him, rescuing him, and delivering him from more and more stuff all the time.

Have you ever thought that maybe the Lord's Supper is a gift of God's kindness? Like God did forgive you and save you from the penalty of sin at the cross when you first decided to trust and follow Jesus. But, there is still so much sin present within you that you need to keep going back to the cross, to keep asking for help, receiving another touch of his kindness. Yes, Jesus saved you twenty years ago, but the Holy Spirit is still inviting you to go back to the garden to keep digging and weeding and planting and watering. ILLUS: You don't want to get to the place where sipping a cup of coffee in church becomes more important to your personal worship routine than coming a few minutes early to meet Jesus, your rescuer, in the eating and drinking of the Lord's Supper. Remember why you're here! How deep is the well of God's kindness?

C. There is no condemnation for being in process (8:1-2) . . .

1. Therefore is a key word. Paul is summarizing his whole letter to this point. You should read it some time. Because you have admitted your sinfulness and failure to live up to God's standards on your own . . . Because you, like Abraham, have decided to trust God, his promises, and his son as your Savior . . . Because the Holy Spirit has now joined you to Jesus and Jesus now lives in you . . . even though you still struggle with sin . . . even though your garden is still a big mess . . . your sins have been cleansed and forgiven. You are free to live in peace, being honest about your issues, working on your issues, asking for my help whenever you need it.

2. The Shack concludes with a summary from Mack's best friend, Willie. How's Mack these days? "Well he's a human being that continues through a process of change, like the rest of us. Only he welcomes it while I tend to resist it. I have noticed that he loves larger than most, is quick to forgive, and even quicker to ask for forgiveness. The transformations in him have caused quite a ripple through his community of relationships-and not all of them easy. But I have to tell you that I've never been around another adult who lives life with such simplicity and joy. Some how he has become a child again. Or maybe more accurately, he's become the child he never was allowed to be; abiding in simple trust and wonder. He embraces even the darker shades of life as part of some incredibly rich and profound tapestry, crafted masterfully by invisible hands of love". (pp. 247-248). Isn't that the kind of person you want to be someday?

IV. ARE YOU READY TO ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES AND DIG IN WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT?

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