Sermon Notes, January 20, 2019
Rev.
Garry McGlinchy
Pastor Garry started a new sermon
series, titled “The Bible Doesn’t Say That.” The first sermon in the series is “God
Won’t Give Us More Than We Can Handle.”
The scriptural basis for his sermon is 1 Corinthians 10:1-6 & 11-13.
In this series we are dealing with the
reality that sometimes Christians actually do damage by giving advice, saying phrases
that might SOUND great, but in reality fall short. We intend them to be helpful, but they
rarely are, and the irony is that we THINK what we are saying is true, but it’s
not. We think what we’re saying is biblical, or scriptural, but it isn’t found
in scripture anywhere. Because of this,
there can be much damage done in the name of God and in the name of biblical
truth. The goal of this series is to
clear up a few misunderstandings by helping us realized that the Bible doesn’t
say that. .
There’s a false idea out there that
life gets easier when we become Christians.
In some ways there’s some truth to that thought. Matthew 11:28, Jesus tells us to take his yoke
upon us and learn from him because his yoke is easy and his burden is
light. But that doesn’t mean we won’t
have burdens—it just means He will be with us and help us work through it. After all, a yoke is something that makes it
possible for an ox to pull a load.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say God
won’t give you anything you can’t handle.
So where does this misconception come from? In 1 Corinthians 10:12-13, it says “So, if you think you are standing firm, be
careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is
common to mankind. And God is faithful;
he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also
provide a way out so that you can endure it.” Paul wrote this, and he is a man familiar
with suffering. Paul encourages us to
remember God is FAITHFUL, that he will not let us be TEMPTED beyond what
we can bear. This is referencing a
temptation to SIN, not relieving us of heavy burdens in life. Often it’s the burdens we face that overwhelm
us and lead us to take the easy way out, and this leads us to temptation. Following Christ is absolutely amazing; it is
spectacular and supernatural, but it’s not always easy. And this is the hard truth we need to grab
hold of: God will absolutely give you more
than you can handle—more than you could ever handle on your own. This misquote leads to theological
confusion. It suggests God causes all
adversity and trouble. This line of
thought can easily leave people confused about who God is. Is God an angry God, weighing us down with
pain? Or is he (as scripture states in
Jeremiah 29:11-13) a loving Father who has plans to prosper and not harm his
children?
This misquote also leads to emotional
guilt. We think, “If God never gives
more than I can handle, then what is wrong with me that I can’t handle this?” This causes broken people to feel like
failures. Many of us are under
unbearable pressure. Some of us are
facing tragedies in our lives, and when someone steps in and attempts to
comfort us with “God won’t give us more than we can bear,” we conclude that we
are too broken and lost, because we can’t bear this. But that is not what this passage is
saying. Will God let us be
overburdened? Yes. Will he leave us lost in temptation? No. The truth is that life itself is often times
more than we can possibly bear. But here
are three things that will help us deal
with this hurtful lie.
First, human suffering is UNIVERSAL. Jesus says in John 16:33, “Here on earth you will have many trials and
sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome
the world.” Doesn’t matter how young
or old you are, everyone experiences hardship.
Many learn powerful lessons from it.
Sometimes our trouble is self-inflicted, but all our lives are touched
by hardship. The vast majority of pain
and suffering in our world comes either from the Devil’s attacks, or from the consequences
of living in a fallen world. God doesn’t
cause all this. But he gets blamed for
every accident or disaster. Particularly
by people who don’t believe in him. In
reality, we are living in a broken, fallen world, and as a result the
consequences of sin and suffering exist.
Second, God is FAITHFUL. This
is a completely Christ-centered statement.
The error we make by saying that God will never give more than you can
handle is self-centered. God not giving
us more than we can handle strikes a tone of fairness we instinctively
gravitate toward. But LIFE IS NOT
FAIR!!!! Life isn’t fair, and God isn’t
fair either. He is completely unfair to
mankind. He did not deal with us as our
sins deserved. He has been
longsuffering, forbearing, patient, gracious and abounding in love. God isn’t fair, and our salvation depends on
that. Let’s not suddenly ask him to make
life fair, or we are all in a lot of trouble.
Suffering doesn’t care about your convenience. There’s never a good time for life to be
wrecked. The conventional wisdom that
God will not give me more than I can bear points people inward, but scripture points
us God-ward. “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of
trouble. I will not fear when earthquakes
come and the mountains crumble into the sea.
Let the oceans roar and foam. Let
the mountains tremble as the waters surge!” (Psalm 46:1-3) Sometimes life gives us more than WE can
handle, but it can never give us more than HE can handle.
Third, you are NOT ALONE. Satan is the father of lies…he is set on
destroying you. The thief’s purpose is
to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10).
God’s design for life is based on COMMUNITY. Both with him, through redemption and
forgiveness, and with each other, living in community and friendship. God gave us community. Someone can walk alongside you, and God will
be with you. He may give you more, but
He is with you, and He can handle it. The picture of the yoke in Matthew 11:28-30 is
of us being yoked together with Jesus.
He is beside us helping us lift our load.
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