C164 1/25/59
© Project Winsome Publishers, 2000

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"HOW TO LIVE WITH YOURSELF AND LIKE IT"
Dr. John Allan Lavender
Num. 13:1-4, 17:21a; 13:25 - 14:4

I want you to pay particular attention to three verses from our scripture lesson.
"We came to the land to which you've sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit."
"(But) We are not able to go up against these people (for) we were as grasshoppers in their sight."
"Let us make a captain and . . . return to Egypt."

If there is a better description of the enervating consequences of self-doubt, I don't know where it is. Here we have a people singularly blessed by God --
Who, again and again throughout their lifetime, had witnessed his miraculous moving on their behalf,
Who, willingly and deliberately turned their backs upon the land which God had specifically promised to them, choosing instead to return to a life of slavery.

They had become so obsessed with feelings of inferiority -- that they were as grasshoppers in the sight of the enemy -- they forgot completely about God's promise to deliver them.
The miraculous crossing of the Red Sea,
The manna in the wilderness,
The water from a rock,
The cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night,
All of these were forgotten as they were inundated by a tidal wave of self-doubt. The will of God for them was utterly frustrated by a smoldering sense of inferiority.

I wonder, is that a picture of you? Is it possible that, like the Israelites of old, you are limiting yourself and God?

Have you set a ceiling on your capacities, a ceiling which is often far too low?
Have you forgotten about God's promise to make you more than conqueror in Christ?
Have you forgotten about the times without number God has proved his faithfulness by blessing you in the past?
Have you turned your back on the light of his leading and doomed yourself to a life of shallow, insipid, unsatisfactory sameness with all the other defeated souls, when all the time God wants you to be blessed to overflowing?

One of the truly sad things about the life of many Christians is that they have lost sight of the fact that Almighty God has endowed them with potentialities and powers which exceed their wildest dreams. As a result -
They brood over their deficiencies and ignore their gifts.
They travel through life on two cylinders when they could use all eight if they would.
They magnify their weaknesses and minimize their strengths.
They tremble before their problems when they ought to triumph through God's power.
They slink along through life when they ought to mount up as wings of eagles.
They creep when they ought to run.
They crawl when they ought to fly.
Is it any wonder they find so little joy in the Christian life?

As the result of their feelings of inferiority, one whole generation of the Israelites missed out on the privilege of claiming the Promised Land. For them, the opportunity never returned. Out of six-hundred-thousand males who were twenty years of age and older when God first tried to lead them into the Promised Land, only two -- Caleb and Joshua -- ever lived to enter that land. And they were the two spies who were brave enough to want to go in at the very beginning.

What a sobering and yet challenging thought.
What a terrible warning of the tragedy that can befall those who doubt themselves in God.
What a timeless reminder of the glorious fact that, if we have faith in God and confidence in ourselves, we can overcome any obstacle and conquer any foe.

Last week I said the next five weeks could very well be the most transforming weeks of your life. That was no exaggeration. I was never more serious in all my life. There is, in fact, a desperate sense of urgency about all this. There are those here this morning who are still living in slavery to sin. Held captive in Egypt, they need to be delivered. If you are one of those, there is the promise of redemption in Christ if you only receive it.

There are others among us, and these may make up the overwhelming majority, who have left the desert land of Egypt and have progressed with God up to the very border of abundant living. But, through fear, inferiority, resentment and guilt, they have gone no further.

There are some who have been Christians ten, twenty, thirty or fifty years, and yet have grown very little in all that time. For you, like one whole generation of the Israelites, this may be the last opportunity you will have to claim the promised land of abundant living.

Some of you here this morning will not be with us a year from today. You will never be as young as you are right now. Life is slipping by, and if you are ever going to take Christ seriously, the time to begin is now. How are you going to do it?

There is one sure way --
Turn to the Bible which is the infallible guide to dynamic living.
Listen to the one who came not only to seek and to save that which is lost, but to give people life and that more abundantly.
Learn his principles for living and then put them into practice.
Accept his evaluation of your worth as he holds the world in one hand and your life in the other and weighing the two says,
"What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
You are worth more than all the stars and suns and satellites that clog the skies.

Reckon with the fact that you are the central object of God's redeeming love.
You are the reason he sent his Son into the world to die upon a cross.
He loves you with the same love he has for his own dear Son.
In other words, get a sense of the presence of God in your life. Judge yourself as he judges you. And in so doing, learn to live with yourself and like it. You can begin by taking stock of the fact that --

When God Made You He Made Something
Special, Unique and Indispensable
There's a wonderful book by Dr. Marcus Bach called The Will To Believe. I hope you'll get it and read it. You may not agree with everything he says -- I don't -- but you'll find in it some of the most exciting suggestions for making your faith.

Dr. Bach makes quite a bit of the fact that you are a distinctive and individualistic expression of God's creative power. He says --
"You are not a blue-print or a carbon-copy or a ditto of anyone past, present, or future. You areyou and there is no one quite like you in all the world.
You don't look exactly like anyone else.
You don't think exactly like anyone else.
You don't live exactly like anyone else.
There are things you can do better than anyone else can do them.
There are qualities and talents which no one else possess in exactly the same way you do.
There are thoughts which are your own special revelation.
That which makes you you, is personal, unique and exclusive."
When God made you, he made something special and distinctive, a unique expression of his creative love.

Sir Arthur Keith, the famous research scientist, says,
"No two human beings have made or will make the same journey in life. Every human life is an unique adventure."
Let me repeat that last sentence --
"Every human life is a unique adventure."

In spite of the fact that God made all of us of essentially the same material, he made all of us wonderfully separate and distinct from every other human being.

Because you are an individual expression of God's creative power and love, there is a job for you to do that only you can do. There is a place for you to fill that only you can fill. There is an influence for you to exert that only you can exert. There is a witness for you to give that only you can give, so if you do not do it, it can never get done.

That's what makes you great. Not in the sense of your being famous or powerful or rich. But great in the sense that no one else in this whole wide world can do for God and life what you can do.

God has placed you here for a unique and separate purpose. Without you and your special contribution the mosaic of life is incomplete.

This is not just wishful thinking or Pollyanna theology. This is the teaching of the Bible. Ephesians 1:23 says the church is the body of Christ and that he is his head. We have all heard that many times. But I wonder if you have ever noticed the rest of the verse. After referring to the church as Christ's body it goes on to say that it is,
"The completeness of him" (Weymouth).
In other words, the head without the body is truncated. Christ without the church is incomplete!

Now that's wonderful enough, but there is more! For who is the church? We are! You and I. The church us made up of all those everywhere who place their trust in Christ. So what this verse really says -- oh wonder of wonders -- is that without you and me Christ is incomplete. What a tremendous thought!

Jesus came at this same idea in a slightly different way when, in the fifteenth chapter of John he is quoted as referring to himself as the vine and, to you and me as the branches of that vine. Then he goes on to say,
"Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me."

A great deal has been made of the fact that apart from the vine the branch is incomplete. But I would like to remind you this morning that it is equally true that apart from the branch the vine is incomplete. Without the branches the vine cannot bear fruit.

The incredible thing about the building of the Kingdom of God in the lives of people is that after Jesus paid the penalty of our sin upon the cross, and gave us the promise of eternal life through his resurrection, he ascended into heaven and left the task of the building of his Kingdom to you and to me.

Without us the job cannot be done. The keys of the Kingdom are in our hands. The task of winning the world for Christ has been left to us. The vine without the branches is incomplete. Christ without you -- Christ without me -- is not fully orbed.

What a staggering truth. What a sublime idea. What a humbling and yet ennobling thought.
We hear a great deal today about the indispensable man. Well, let me shock you this morning by saying: you are that man! You are that woman! When God made you he made something separate, distinct and unique. An individual with a job to do. A place to fill. An influence to exert. A witness to give. You are indispensable, for no one else can do your job, fill your place, exert your influence, or give your witness.

So quit brooding over your deficiencies and begin to thank God for your virtues. Quit conforming to the mediocrity of the world and be transformed by the renewing of your mind through Christ Jesus. Get a sense of the presence of God in your life by coming to the terms of the fact that when he made you he made something special, unique, and indispensable. And then, live with yourself and like it.

A second thing you can do to get a sense of the presence of God in your life is come to terms with the fact that --

God's Will For You Is Good And
He Dearly Wants You To Experience An Abundant Life
I don't know why we are afraid to submit to God's will, but, for some strange reason, we've gotten the crazy notion that God wants to take away our fun.

Last summer, when I was flying to California to spend a part of my vacation with my father who is ill, I got to the airport just in time to catch the plane. As a result, I had to take the last vacant seat in the coach section of one of those combination first-class tourist flights so popular today.

It so happened that this last vacant seat was beside a young mother with a baby. The baby was making it unmistakably clear that she didn't want to have anything to do with the benefits of the aeronautical age.

I really love babies. Having changed a diaper or two in my day, it was pretty obvious to me, after the little tyke had cried continuously for about an hour an a half, that somebody had better do something. Since nobody else was standing in line, I decided that somebody was me.

I put down the book I had been trying to read without success, and said to this poor, distraught, overwhelmed and bewildered young mother, "Can I help you with the baby?" With an immense sigh of relief which could be heard all over the airplane, she plunked the baby in my lap and left!

Where she went I'll never know. She just evaporated into thin air. As I walked up and down the aisle with this baby flung over my shoulder, trying to pat it gently to sleep, I kept an eagle eye out for her. She had dropped out of sight..

After about a half hour of coaxing and coddling, the little tyke went to sleep. I got a make-shift cradle from the stewardess, and the little one who was really quite cute, snuggled down in her blanket and slept most of the way to California.

No sooner than the baby settled down, when, lo and behold, the mother suddenly reappeared. She thanked me profusely for taking the baby off her hands. "I just didn't know what to do," she said. "I've never had a baby before." As if she needed to tell me!

I took out a pencil and paper and started to write an article for the Baptist Children's Home which later appeared in their magazine. She watched me for awhile and said, "Are you a writer?" "Not really. Why do you ask?" "You write so fast. The ideas just seem to flow through your fingers."

She didn't know that all the time I had walked her baby up and down the aisle it was easy to think kind thoughts about the Children's Home which takes care of troubled tots! "Well," I said, "I happened to be writing about something very dear to me. That's why it's coming so easily."
She went back to her magazine and after awhile asked, 'What do you do?"
"I'm a minister," I said. "I'm pastor of the Morgan Park Baptist Church in Chicago." That started us on a conversation which lasted until the plane set down on the runway of San Francisco International Airport.

In the course of our conversation she wanted to know about prayer. Did I believe in it? Did I think God answered it? Did I feel it made any contribution to my life? To all these questions I answered, "Yes." Then she said, "But how do you know what to pray for?" "Well, sometimes I don't, " I answered. "That's why, after making my request, I always explained to the Lord that this is how I see things from my limited point of view. But after all, he sees things from an infinite point of view, and therefore, I want him to do his will."

"You mean, you actually want God to have his will in your life?" she asked with an incredulous look upon her face. "I'd be scared to death to do that. He might make me miserable." "I know just how you feel," I said. "I used to be afraid of God's will, too. But one day I stumbled upon the wonderful fact that he always has something better for me than I can plan for myself. Since then I have not only wanted God's will, I've eagerly and purposefully sought it."

I don't know if I got through to her or not. Just about then the baby woke up and ole' Uncle John was back to walkin' the aisle again.

The thing I want to illustrate with this little story is that while there are many things we don't know about God, we shouldn't let them bother us, for there are many things we do know about him.
For one thing, we know God is good.
For another thing we know he is omniscient and sees the end from the beginning and everything in between.
He not only knows what we do, he knows why we do what we do.
He not only knows where we are, he knows all of the circumstances which led us to where we are.
He not only knows where we are going, he knows precisely how we are going to get there.
And we shouldn't be afraid to turn our lives over to the direction of a good God who knows everything. Especially if we believe, as I do, that this good God, who knows everything, only wants to give us his best. And that's what the Bible says!

The Bible says that, for the Israelites of the Old Testament, God's best was the promised land. A land of prosperity, freedom and potential self-realization.

The Bible says that for New Testament Christians -- for you and me -- God's best is the abundant life. A life of joy, peace, victory and power. That's why Jesus came to dwell upon this earth, to give you life and that more abundantly. What a tremendous realization. What a wonderful fact. What a glorious hope.

So don't go on groveling in the dust of mediocrity. God wants you to have his best. He has given his son to make that possible. All he wants you to do is believe in yourself as he believes in you. Trust yourself as he trusts you. Love yourself as he loves you. So you can walk in the way of inestimable goodness he has willed for you. In other words, live with yourself and like it.

Finally, if you are to have a sense of the presence of God in your life, you must come to terms with the fact that --

God Is Able To Forgive and Empower You With His Holy Spirit For Daily Living.
We can't escape the fact that one reason for our feelings of inferiority is the gnawing sense of guilt that plagues us because of secret sin, unconfessed evil, wrong habits, wrong thoughts, and wrong deeds. These haunt us all, for --
"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

But God has not left us without hope. He has given his son that we might be saved. He has sent his Holy Spirit that we might have power for daily living. And --
If your life is all mixed up,
If it is clogged with secret sin,
If you are odds with yourself,
If you seem to be coming apart at the seams,
Give your life to God. He can do a better job with it than you can. He can put you back together again. He made you in the first place and he is anxious to remake you now, in the image of his Son, if you will only give him a chance.

But that's not the end of it. God never does a job halfway. If you give your life to him, he will not only forgive you and remake you, he will empower you! He will give you his Holy Spirit so you can claim the promised land of abundant living.

In that regard there are some practical things you can do to help him. This is not a psychiatric hospital, it is a church of the living God. But, let's not forget that God created psychology, too. If we are going to overcome our feelings of inferiorities, we must make use of the infinite wisdom he has made available to us. We must pray -- not in a hit-or-miss manner -- but specifically.

For instance, take a simple prayer like the one which appears on your spiritual prescription for the week. Repeat it regularly. On schedule. Every hour of the day.
I am a child of God.
He loves me and has forgiven me all my sins. Past, present and future!
By his grace, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).

Repeat that prayer reminder every hour on the hour for the next five weeks.
Saturate your heart and mind and soul with its meaning.
Fill every fiber of your being with the wonderful awareness of who you are in Christ and of the unlimited power which is available of you through him.

If you do that, I promise you will learn to live with yourself and like it.
You will gain a sense of the presence of God in your life.
You will become conscious of the fact that when God made you, he made something special, unique and indispensable.
You will be thrilled by the knowledge that God's will is good and that he dearly wants you to experience an abundant life.

And most important of all, you will be comforted and energized in knowing that God is able to forgive to the uttermost all who come to him in Christ. And, he is ready to empower you with his Holy Spirit for daily living. That is what you really want, isn't it!