This sermon was preached at Mt. Gilead UMC in Georgetown, KY.
If you want to listen to the whole worship service, click this first link below.
Mt. Gilead UMC Worship – 2021-06-06
If you want to listen only to the sermon, click this second link below.
Ephesians 3:20-21
Introduction
This week my family had the stomach bug. It hit right after we got home from church. It was awful. Thankfully, neither Addie nor I got it. But Paige, Ayla, and Asher were really sick and knocked out for three days or so. One of those days while I was making chicken noodle soup for everyone, I was deep in thought and the Lord kind of interrupted and spoke this thought to me.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of the Dark Side
I was thinking about how there are some people in the world who think that nothing bad is ever going to happen to them—people who are prideful and arrogant and overly self-confident. And for me, I’m kind of the opposite—I expect bad things to happy to me, because they do and that’s just life and you’ve got to learn how to deal with trials coming your way. My motto has kind of been like that Star Wars quote that I shared last week: “Don’t underestimate the power of the dark side.” And I don’t. I know that hard times are coming. I know that at any moment things could all fall apart all at once.
And that’s what happened to us Sunday after church. Everybody was hit all at once and suddenly here I am—Superdad to the rescue—helping everybody puke their guts out, which by the way is the thing that I hate most in the world, the thing that grosses me out more than anything else. But I’ve learned how to deal with puke over the years. So everything just fell apart all around me all at once and now I was alone caring for three sick people and a baby all by myself worrying when I was going to starting throwing up or the baby.
“Don’t underestimate the power of the dark side.” I hadn’t. I knew that it was coming. That’s why I always carry hand sanitizer around with me—I don’t want me or anybody getting sick, especially the stomach bug. It’s like that old saying goes: “Prepare for the worst; hope for the best.” I was prepared for the worst, but was I really hoping for the best? Well, this is what the Lord challenged me with in the midst of all this.
Don’t Overestimate the Power of the Dark Side
I think that in all of my years of trials and sufferings, which I know are few and pale in comparison to many of the things that y’all have gone through, but through it all I think that I’ve actually been preparing for the worst and disregarding the best altogether, because my experience through hardships has been that the best rarely happens; that’s wishful thinking, that’s being naïve.
Well, I think that there is a point in our walk with the Lord through trials that we can become jaded and cynical and perhaps even a bit numb to the good that happens too in the midst of pain and suffering. And the Lord was showing me this week that I’ve come to a place where I actually overestimate the dark side, that I expect too many bad things to happen, that I overestimate Satan and his destructive ways in the world and our lives. And that place, overestimating the darkness, is just as fruitless and unhelpful as being unprepared for the worst and pridefully thinking that nothing could ever go wrong.
Don’t Underestimate God
Well, our Scripture this morning sheds some light on this, and it’s the passage that I immediately thought about when the Lord spoke to me through my time of reflection. It’s a Scriptural favorite for sure, Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
So there I was, making chicken noodle soup, thinking about Star Wars, and the Lord said, “Don’t underestimate the power of the good side.” Translation: “Don’t underestimate the power of God. Don’t underestimate God. Don’t underestimate me. Don’t count me out. You need to account for me in your equation. I am the X-factor.”
And so I was reminded that the Lord changes everything. I’m not alone—we’re not alone—when we go through these trials. I feel like I used to be a lot better at going through trials than I am now, that I had a better attitude through them when I was a younger, but James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). Why? “…because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:3-4). And there’s another reason too, one that John Wesley on his deathbed said is the best thing of all, that God is with us. As Jesus said, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:20). And, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). What a statement!
So, whatever you go through this week, today, or next month, don’t just prepare for the worst and expect it like I’ve been doing. No, prepare for the worst and truly hope for the best, God’s best. Don’t overestimate the darkness and underestimate God and his goodness and love. God is ready, willing, and able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask and imagine, because he loves us and is so incredibly strong and powerful. I’m going to end with how Paul summarized all of this in Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who [or what] can be against us? Amen.
Dr. Timothy J. Christian 