Sermon snippet -Unshaken
INTRODUCTION – Life is especially shaky today: we have shaky leadership on borders, disease, and foreign policy, a shaky economy (including record inflation and supply chain and air travel problems) and shaky responses to an increase in crime and deteriorating education. Of course, there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), but our current circumstances make us ponder how long these things can continue. From God’s Word, let us learn together how to remain unshaken.
- WE NEED TO FOCUS ON WHAT IS STRONG AND STABLE
Hebrews 12:18-29 is a key passage on this subject. Verse 27 points us to “those things which cannot be shaken,” especially “a kingdom which cannot be moved” (verse 28). The sturdiness of Jesus’ kingdom is based upon His death on the Cross (“to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant” – verse 24); our sins have been dealt with fully and finally. The historical fact of Jesus’ crucifixion (and, of course, His resurrection) cannot be altered; our faith is founded on certainties. It is impossible to imagine heaven shaking. We belong to that heavenly kingdom right now. If we focus on the stock market or the latest op-ed, we will be shaking in our shoes or sandals. If we spend more time thinking about the Savior, we will not be shaken.
- WE MUST DISCERN SHAKY DOCTRINE
II Thessalonians 2:1-2 tells us that the early Christians were troubled by various teachings concerning the return of Jesus Christ. Most of us can quickly identify the wrong ideas behind false religions and such philosophies as Marxism or the closely related post-modernism. However, because we do not want to disparage those who claim to be Christians, we are more susceptible to error within our faith. II Timothy 2:14-19 is a specific and blessedly helpful warning.
- WE MUST NOT BE INFLUENCED BY SHAKY PEOPLE
This point goes hand-in-hand with the previous one: there are always people like Hymenaeus and Philetus amongst us. Before we trust folks, they must earn our trust. James 1:8 pointedly reminds us that “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
- WE NEED TO LOOK TO THE END OF SHAKY THINGS
In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus contrasts the absolute destruction of the house built on the shaky, shifting sand (anything other than Jesus) with the everlasting security of the residence constructed on the solid rock, Jesus Christ. Later, in Mark 13:25, He speaks of the universal shaking that will accompany His return (verse 26). Why would any of us lean upon these things which will crumble and fall?
CONCLUSION – Unshaken – unshaken we are if we place ourselves in the nail-shattered hands of Jesus Christ. Those strong hands that endured the Cross will never let us go.