Nothing

Pain is never permanent.” - Teresa of Avila

Call to Worship

“Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen.” - Oswald Chambers

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you
as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:31-34

Sermon

Nothing

There are a few books, movies, and songs that over the years have been passed on to me from my Father. These serve as cultural heirlooms, passed from Father to Son. The implied message is “these are the truths that Dunn men contemplate when times get tough.”  

There are a lot of people around the world that are in very real pain today.  In light of this reality, I wanted to share one of these Dunn cultural heirlooms with you.

It is the collective power of two scenes from the movie, Cool Hand Luke.

If you have never seen this film, released in 1967, Cool Hand Luke, “tells the story of a free spirit who cannot be caged, even in jail.”- Christopher Granger.

When Luke gets sent to jail he is immediately at odds with everyone, this includes the warden, the man with no eyes, and the leader of the inmates Dragline.

(George Kennedy won the Best supporting Oscar for his role as Dragline, the big, charismatic leader of the chain gang inside Luke’s prison.) 

In the first act, the tension between Dragline and Luke grows and grows until it is finally decided that there should be a boxing match, to settle once and for all, who will be running things in the prison.

Dragline is about twice the size of Luke, way out of his weight class, and by the normal rules of boxing the match is totally unfair. 
But, of course, that doesn’t stop Luke from getting into the ring with
him.

As you can imagine, Luke gets badly beaten, he is knocked down, again and again, but he simply will not give up. It gets so tense, that the other inmates watching start yelling at him “stay down,” “stay down,” but Luke will not stay down. The match ends with Dragline giving up, out of pity, as Luke collapses on Him, just to stay on his feet.  Dragline carries him from the fight on one shoulder, as Luke helplessly tries to punch his back.

Cut to the next scene.

The inmates are playing poker, at first they are all betting, but Luke keeps on upping the stakes, “kick a buck” he says with his iconic steely blue eyed confidence. He does this until everyone else is out, it’s down to him and one other inmate, who is in anguish over what to do.  Eventually, Dragline comes in and tells the other inmate to fold. When he does, Dragline flips over Luke’s cards and we find out, he was, of course, bluffing the whole time. Realizing this, Dragline says, “nothing, a whole
lotta nothing. Just like today when he kept coming back at me, with nothing.”

“Yeah well,” Luke replies “Sometimes nothing is a real cool hand.”
Luke had what it takes to persevere under great pressure. He didn’t have the biggest muscles, and he most certainly he wasn’t dealt a winning hand.

Yet, in the end Luke is the unlikely hero, because he had an unshakeable spirit. The external forces of this world made him dig ditches until his hands bled, and his back gave out, forced him to sleep in the “box” for no reason.  No matter how hard the external world pressed down on him, he wouldn’t give up. Somehow, the more they broke his body, the
more his spirit soared.

Civil Rights activist and theologian Howard Thurman, in his classic work Jesus and the Disinherited,  put it this way, “….anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to his destiny.”

This is not just a theory, or a nice thing to say. This idea became the cornerstone of the entire civil rights movement. Howard Thurman was Martin Luther King Junior’s favorite theologian. King became the enactment of these words, in order to bring justice to his people.

During the movement, racist oppressors did everything they could to make the external life of any black man or woman, boy or girl, as miserable as possible, but they could not affect their inner life. They could not break their spirit, in fact, their spirit soared. 

I have certainly had times this week where I feel like I had a whole lotta
nothing. Maybe you’re with me in this feeling, like you have never put more effort in to something, just to get a fraction of the results you were getting before. I have spoken with teachers who are working around the clock to get some kind of lesson plan online, worrying and wondering if any real learning is going on. I have prayed with friends who work in medicine, who will be sent to the front lines, uncertain of what they will be doing or how they will be doing it. I have sat in mourning, broken hearted, as we all hear how the number of people suffering is growing every day. You may feel like I do some times, helpless, with nothing to offer

But you got something, something great. By not giving up, you
offer more than your effort, you offer yourself. You offer yourself as an
expression of a human spirit that will not be broken. No matter how
frustrating, or exhausting, or scary the external world gets, do not let it
shake you on the inside.  

The spirit which God gives every believer is described in 2
Timothy 1:7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of
power and of love and of a sound mind. Endurance under pressure is not flashy, it is not produced in comfort, it will never be found in what Robin Leach used to call the Lifestyles of the rich and famous, but it is what we need most. The Good News of the Gospel is that you can possess a powerful spirit of love, and the strength of a sound mind, no matter what comes your way.

Paul puts it this way;

As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in much patience; in troubles, hardships and distresses….. through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report…. dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. -2 Corinthians 6:3-8.

Many of you know that this Pastor has been on a preaching, on patience, streak, and we will just keep it going this week as well. The Hebrew translation of patience used here is ὑπομένω: hupomenó
(hoop-om-en'-o) which can be translated as, to endure under great pressure. We are experiencing the great pressure of not knowing when this dark cloud will lift.  So in this time, we need to ask God for hupomenó.

Of course we will make mistakes, we will have bad days, but we must never give up. Be assured brothers and sisters that God’s grace and mercy covers us, now more than ever. We must remember God’s forgiveness and apply His gift of grace in every situation. With this in mind, no matter how hard we fall, we can rest assured that we will return to the fight with courage and strength.

This section of second Corinthians ends with Paul saying somehow that;

having nothing… is …possessing everything.

2 Corinthians 6:3-8.

 Similarly;

Philippians 2:7 tells us, “…he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.”

When Jesus went to the cross he did nothing. He didn’t speak when insults were being hurled at him, when his own people mocked him, he didn’t call down the armies of Heaven to destroy the Roman oppressors, instead he willingly took every blow. As His body was broken for us, His spirit was saving us.

When we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him, may we realize that the great pressure of our time, is the making of His most beautiful disciples.

Because, sometimes nothing is a real cool hand.

Let us Pray

Father, 
Worry and fear are not of Your heart. 1 John 4 reminds us that perfect love casts out all fear, and we pray Your perfect love upon the hearts of all those who are burdened with the fear of this virus. Lord, we know with
no doubt that You are bigger than the threat of anything, especially illnesses.
Please comfort those who are living in fear, please free them from the bondage that anxiety creates within. Remind them that You are still on the Throne and that You are still in control. Fully rain down the serenity that comes only from the Prince of Peace. Help those who are living in unease to trust You in this time so that in times to come we may rest assured that You will be faithful to be with us until the end of the age. We rest at the Throne of the Almighty such fears and cast them upon You (1 Peter 5:7), for Your burden is Light and Your Yoke is easy (Matthew 11:30), we know You cover us with Your wings (Psalm 91:4). 

In Jesus’ name, Amen