GOD IS GREATER
Posted by: henkf <henkf@...>
GOD IS GREATER
John 10:22-30
A new kind of modern airplane was on an experimental flight. It was full of reporters and journalists. A few minutes after the takeoff the captain's voice was heard from the loudspeakers: "I'm delighted to be your pilot, and the captain of this airplane on its first historical flight. I can tell you that the flight is going well. Nevertheless, I still have to tell you about a minor inconvenience that has occurred. The passengers that are sitting on the right side can, if they look through the window, see that the closest engine is slightly vibrating. That shouldn't worry you, because there are four engines, so you can feel perfectly safe. And, we are at the unbelievable altitude of 62,000 feet, flying at a speed of 1,050 mph as planned . . . But, if you're looking at that engine, maybe you can notice that the second engine is glowing, or more precisely one could say that it's burning. That shouldn't worry you either, since there are two more engines on the left side, and the altitude and speed are still as planned . . . .
"Those of you that are sitting on the left side shouldn't worry if you notice that one engine that is supposed to be on the left side has been missing for about ten minutes. But, I must ask for your attention of one thing that seems to be a little more serious. Along the aisle, all the way through the plane, a crack has appeared. Some of you are, I suppose, looking through the crack and seeing the waves of the Atlantic. Those of you that have very good eyes can notice a small life boat on those waves that has been thrown out of the plane. Well, ladies and gentlemen, your captain is speaking from that life boat."
There are some situations, I suppose, about which we shouldn't even joke. And yet when I first heard that little piece of humor, I couldn't help thinking how descriptive it is of so many people's lives. Their plane is falling apart and they fear their captain is as remote as the one on that raft in the Atlantic 62,000 feet below.
If that is your situation, I suggest you read Jesus' words in John, the tenth chapter beginning with the 27th verse: "My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."
God is greater. That is the thought for the day. God is not a captain who has abandoned us. God is a shepherd who is able to protect us from whatever may threaten.
NOTICE, FIRST OF ALL, THAT GOD IS GREATER THAN ANY TEMPTATION.
That's saying a mouthful, isn't it? Temptation can really play havoc with our lives. There was a humorous "Cathy" cartoon strip sometime back. Cathy is struggling with her diet. See if this progression is familiar:
Frame 1: I will take a drive, but won't go near the grocery store.
Frame 2: I will drive by the grocery store, but will not go in.
Frame 3: I will go in the grocery store, but will not walk down the aisle where the Halloween candy is on sale.
Frame 4: I will look at the candy, but not pick it up.
Frame 5: I will pick it up, but not buy it.
Frame 6: I will buy it, but not open it.
Frame 7: Open it, but not smell it.
Frame 8: Smell it, but not taste it.
Frame 9: Taste it, but not eat it.
Frame 10: Eat, eat, eat, eat eat! (Neil T. Anderson, VICTORY OVER THE DARKNESS, (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1990), pp. 162-163. )
It's hard, isn't it?
There was an interesting story in the papers last Christmas about a man in Lewes, England who was fired from his job as a trainee in a bakery because he succumbed to temptation and gobbled a Christmas mince pie. Stephen Cooper, 35, was packing pies into boxes and gobbled one that did not fit. He said it surely would have been thrown out anyway. "I know I shouldn't have done it but the temptation was too much," said Cooper. "It doesn't seem fair that I got the sack for just one bite." (Reuter)
There are temptations far worse than food, but it is true that some of us should probably not work in bakeries. It helps to know your own weaknesses. Still, Jesus tells us, God is greater. There is no temptation that can snatch us out of God's hand. And if we pray for help in the face of the Tempter, we can resist. God is greater.
But what if we give in to temptation? What then? Go back and read rule #1: God is greater.
GOD IS ALSO GREATER THAN OUR SINS.
It would be good if we always walked away from temptation, if we never tasted forbidden fruit. But what if we're weak? What if we give in? Then, is it too late? Will God accept the knowing sinner? The answer, of course, is yes. Nothing can snatch us out of God's hand.
Kenneth Godfrey of Pine Mountain, Georgia tells how his five-year-old son Kevin taught him a lesson in forgiveness. They were living in Griffin, Georgia at the time, and Kevin had a friend on the block named Drake Nemyre. Drake was a year older than Kevin, and they loved to play together. One Saturday while Kenneth washed the car, he saw Kevin and Drake sword fighting with two tree branches. "Boys," he warned, "better put those branches down and find something else to play with." Kevin dropped his branch and started looking for something else to play, but Drake's eyes sparkled. He drew back his branch and whacked Kevin across the face as hard as he could. Kevin fell to the ground, screaming bloody murder. Meanwhile, Drake threw down his stick and tore off toward home. Quickly Kenneth grabbed Kevin and took him into the house.
While his wife comforted Kevin, Kenneth visited next door. Trembling with anger, he beat on the door. Gradually it opened, and there stood Mr. Nemyre with Drake peering from behind him. "Your son Drake just hit my son Kevin with a stick." Kenneth blurted out. "It looks serious. Keep that little kid away from our house."
Grabbing Drake, his father said, "Son, you have had it!" Hurriedly he closed the door. Kenneth could hear Drake screaming.
Believing justice was served, Kenneth went home to calm down. Half an hour later, he was washing the car when Kevin came outside. His face looked bruised, blistered and cut. "Son, are you all right?" his father asked.
"Daddy," Kevin said, "can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?" his father asked.
"Daddy," Kevin said, "Can Drake come back to see me?"
"What?" Kenneth said with some frustration. "After what he did to you? No, he can't come back to see you!" What's the matter with this kid? Kenneth wondered. Can't he get up an old-fashioned dislike for someone? He glanced down at Kevin to see big tears welling up in his eyes. "Son, what is the matter with you, now?" Kenneth asked.
"Daddy, you don't understand," Kevin said. "Drake is my very best friend!"
Startled, Kenneth stopped to analyze Kevin's words. What he was hearing his son say was, "Daddy, I love Drake. He can do nothing to destroy that love." Kenneth thought to himself, isn't that the way God loves us? We can do nothing to destroy God's love for us. Even when we crucified God's son on a cross, God continued to love us. Kenneth's conscience was pricked.
Later in the day, Kevin held his father's hand as they walked next door to see Drake Nemyre. Drake apologized for the incident. Kevin invited him back over to play. Kenneth still recalls the last time he saw Drake. The day their family moved from Griffin, he came over to give Kevin a going away present. Drake gave each of them a big hug. With big tears in his eyes he stood in the driveway, waving goodby as the family drove out of sight. Echoing in Kenneth's mind were Kevin's words, "Daddy, you don't understand. Drake is my very best friend."
What we are talking about is a relationship of love, aren't we? That is the relationship that you and I can have with God. God is greater than any temptation. God is greater than any sin. But there is one thing more we need to see:
GOD IS GREATER THAN ANY SCARS THAT SIN MAY HAVE LEFT UPON OUR SOULS.
Some of us know with our minds that God accepts us even though we have sinned, but our hearts still bear the scars of guilt and remorse. Others of us carry scars not from our own sins but the sins of others. We need to know that God is greater than all our scars.
Some years back, Dr. Maxwell Maltz told of an Italian man by the name of Cremona. Cremona was a barber in the section where Maltz grew up--in one of the worst slums of New York. Cremona was the idol of all the boys in the neighborhood. His barbershop was clean and neat. It was filled with beautiful pictures--copies of the MONA LISA, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the birth of Jesus. Often Cremona would stand at the door of his shop, said Maltz, and when one of the neighborhood boys would go by, he would say, "Come on in. Your hair needs cutting." "But I don't have any money," would be the reply. "Who said anything about money?" Cremona would answer and he would cut their hair and, while he cut it, he would talk to them about the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Maltz grew up he became a doctor and a Christian. He specialized in plastic surgery. One day Cremona's wife came to see him. "Cremona wants to see you," she said. After office hours Maltz went over to Cremona's house. His welcome warmed the doctor's heart.
Cremona asked his wife to allow them to talk privately. When she was gone, he whispered, "Doctor, come down closer. Doctor, Cremona has about finished his life. Cremona is going Home. Doctor, one thing Cremona wants you to do above everything else, please. I will pay you what I can."
Dr. Maltz said, "You have already paid me a hundred times over."
Cremona said, "Doctor, long years ago in Sicily, Cremona and another boy had a bad fight. Cremona cut the other boy up, and the other boy cut up Cremona. The big handle-bar moustache I wear is to cover the scar. Doctor, I am going to stand before my Maker soon, and I am ashamed of the scar. My moustache won't hide it from Him. Doctor, take the scar off before I die."
The doctor, already crying, said, "Where is this scar, Cremona?" He reached up and touched the face of Cremona and looked for the scar underneath the moustache, but he couldn't find it. He said, "Cremona, are you sure that's the right place?"
"Yes," Cremona answered, "right down across the upper lip."
Dr. Maltz said, "I examined it carefully, but there was no scar."
Then he added these words, "Now you can say what you want to, any of you who read this. You might say old age draws the skin tight and effaces some things. I say to you that Cremona was such a fine Christian that God took that scar off him." (Lee Roberson, THE MAN IN CELL NO. 1, (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1993), p. 110)
In a sense Maltz is correct. God is greater than any scars--whether those scars are from things we have done or things that others have done to us. Maybe those scars are from crises that we have gone through. Maybe we have had more than our share of those times when our plane was coming apart and our Captain seemed far off. I assure you the Captain was closer than you think. There is no power in this world that can snatch us from God's hand. God is our shepherd--our best Friend. Our God is greater than any temptation, any sin, any scar. Won't you trust this great God today?
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