Finding Confidence

Psalm 71:5–6

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.

2 Corinthians 5:17–19

¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

For my 9^th grade graduation my parents said that I could buy a new suit so I picked out a baby blue with white pin stripes, double-breasted suit coat, which I wore with a white turtleneck, white pants and white crepe soiled shoes. It was all a bit pricey at the time but my dad told me that the only reason he said it was OK was because he wore a baby blue, white pin stripped, double breasted suit when he and my mom got married. Score one for nostalgia.

In 9^th grade I was still struggling with issues around self-esteem and (as we’ve talked about in previous conversations) I was trying to find a place to belong BUT when I put on this particular outfit it gave me a whole new outlook on me. I thought the whole ensemble was pretty cool and by extension (when I was wearing that costume) I thought I was also “pretty cool.” I got almost “cocky.”

I have always heard people say, “Clothes make the man” and in this particular case it seemed to be playing true. When you put on a new suit it’s like seeing a new you (a you you’ve never seen before) and it carries over for a while. That is, until the new suit becomes an old suit.

I found out later that “Clothes make the man” is only the first part of that quotation. Mark Twain said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” He had a point.

The reality is that new clothes can help you see yourself in a new way but they are at best a temporary fix. PUTTING ON A NEW SUIT (OR a new DRESS) DOESN’T MAKE US A NEW PERSON…IT JUST COVERS UP THE PERSON WE are used to seeing in the mirror. It may work for a while but eventually the magic wears thin.

I am not the first person to have gone through this experience. I’m sure that retail sales have benefited over the years from people who were trying to find that perfect outfit; that cool suit coat; that temporary covering that would somehow make them look like the person they wanted to be.

And it’s not just clothes…we could expand this conversation a bit and talk about all of the other things that people try to hide behind. Alcohol, drugs, sex, violence, bigger houses, faster cars, more expensive jewelry (we could even throw religion into this mix) all of them have all been used by somebody in an attempt to hide from the person they live with every day.

The fundamental problem is that everything we try is only temporary. Each of them may work for a while but then the clothes get old, the alcohol wears off and the house needs a new roof.

What we need is something PERMANENT; something that works behind the surface at the core of who we are, something that works to fix the real problem. The Bible suggests that there is a brokenness in our lives that Jesus came to repair.

Paul said,

“¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”

He was actually talking about a spiritual reconciliation. The word “reconcile” literally means to “change;” so Paul was talking about Jesus stepping into our lives and changing our relationship with God from being distant to being intimate.

But “reconcile” can also describe the change that takes place in our lives as we begin to see ourselves differently. Whatever impacts our souls should also impact the way we live. I believe that is why Jesus & Paul & John & James all talked about the natural connection between faith and good works

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

James 2:14, 17

The Good News that we have been commissioned to proclaim is that Jesus came to heal the brokenness inside of our lives and that the healing he works inside us should spill out into everything we do and say.

The key to a new life is not a new suit. The key to a new life is a new “heart” and Jesus just happens to be in the new heart business.

If you look in the bulletin you will find that the title for this conversation is “Finding Confidence” and you might have been wondering if we we’re ever going to get to the confidence part. Well, here it is, but it is like dominoes falling down; a series of realizations (we might even call it a journey.)

We start with the realization that we are not what we should be OR not what we would want to be. We don’t know why we are so fragile but “fragile” might be just the word to describe THE CONDITION WE ARE IN (OF COURSE, WE DON’T’ WANT TO ADMIT IT…WE WANT TO BE “COOL” OR “TOUGH” OR “SMOOTH”…WE WANT TO THINK THAT WE’VE GOT IT ALL TOGETHER so we try to cover it up or fix it on our own.

Then we come to the realization that WE can’t fix it. Everything we try is only temporary AND IF WE HAVEN’T SCREWED OUR LIVES UP TOO BADLY in the process AND WE ARE STILL LISTENING we might realize that we need to turn to someone greater than ourselves (someone who has been chasing us down from the moment we were born. This is what we would call, in Wesleyan terms, “Prevenient Grace.”) God has always loved us and has been trying to get our attention. He wants to make us whole.

So, then if we are willing to surrender our lives to his control, Jesus begins to work a miracle deep inside our lives and we begin to see ourselves differently, which in turn changes the way we live our lives every day. We begin to find that we have a certainty that we are loved. We become convinced that Jesus has a hold on our hearts.

We begin to know that our God will care for us no matter what is happening to us or around us (confident that God is on our side and it doesn’t depend on how nice we look in photographs or what kind of suit we wear or how much money we have in the bank.)

 In fact, all of the things that we’ve filled our lives up with become less and less important and we begin to realize that all of those “things” are really resources (and opportunities) to make a difference in the world. Life is not about me alone, life is filled with moments when we can say a good word for Jesus and offer other people (people who are living suit to suit) a chance to meet this Jesus who heals broken hearts.

I think this is part of what Jesus was talking about when he said,

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

LAST WEEK I ended our conversation WITH THIS STATEMENT:

            Some time back we talked about Paul who was imprisoned for his faith in Jesus thanking God for the opportunity to tell the Roman guards about new life in Christ. Apparently, Paul had found something in his relationship with Jesus that gave him confidence that God was still in charge and this confidence provided peace for his soul.

Being a follower of Jesus is never just about a particular experience or a particular revelation or one moment in time. Being a follower of Jesus is a journey and one thing leads to another, which leads to another. We might call it “sanctification” OR we might call it “growing up” as followers of Jesus. One thing leads to another.

Our relationship with Jesus leads us to confidence in him (we might call it faith) which in turn leads to peace that passes understanding but is real in our lives every day.

JUST LIKE DOMINOES FALLING DOWN: RELATIONSHIP, CONFIDENCE, PEACE. It starts here.