March 2024 Sermon Series:
UCBC Pathway: Journeying Pathways Together – we are about to embark on a journey where we explore and connect people to Christ, the church community and toward building more pathways ahead. That is where we are heading in the next two months. However, I realized that in every journey, travel, and adventure, there is a need for preparation and check-ups if one is ready to participate in this undertaking. We need to consider whether what we’re bringing will be useful or just excess baggage that we’ll carry on. The best way to find out is through Christ’s standard itself.
After our study of the assurance of Christ in February, God’s love in Christ for us cannot be questioned. However, our love for God falls short and needs proper cultivation. When asked about the greatest commandment, Christ answered that we must love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:28-31). But we know for sure that even as Christians, that our heart is broken, soul is distracted, mind is corrupted, and strength is invested in another matter. Mark 12:30, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Let’s study together this March on how we can cultivate our confidence and identity in Christ by offering all our heart, soul, mind, and strength in loving God. March 3 – Heart: Issues of Mistrust and Becoming Trustworthy; March 10 – Soul: Issues of Distractions and Focus on Christ; March 17 – Mind: Issues of Anxiety and Finding Peace in Christ; March 24 – Strength: Issues of Abuse, Oppression, and Justice. Our theme for this March is Dealing with heart, soul, mind, and strength issues.
Dealing with the Heart Issue of Mistrust (John 17:15-23)
Introduction statement: We are all struggling with trusting others or even ourselves.
Background: Christ knew that when he left his disciples and his future people in this world, we would all still be living in the presence of adversaries, trials, persecutions, and sufferings. That is why he prayed this prayer that God, through his Word, would unite us and make us all whole (verse 22). Yet, even during this time, the disciples were beginning to have second thoughts.
The initial question of those who struggle with trust issues is: “Can I trust the people around me?” It is difficult to trust Jesus if we are struggling with mistrust.
Confidence and security are developed when fed and comforted (Erik Erickson’s Psychosocial theory). But more than psychology, biblically speaking, the primary causes of mistrust or lack of trust are the following: (1) Abandonment, (2) Hurt, (3) Rejection, and (4) Lack of care. What the disciples of Christ did after the death of Christ makes sense now. They all returned to their workplaces and communities because they felt down.
Personal story: I learned it the hard way and still struggle with trust (FCF story after experiencing trauma and depression). No one knew what I had gone through. The paranoia, anxiety, and self-pity that I kept to myself while I was pastoring a church in Baguio. I never shared it with them because I thought I needed to be strong since I am the pastor. What happened when I didn’t trust my church community? It led me to other coping mechanisms, expressing pain and hurt in different manners—I became an alcoholic, went missing for almost a week to get high, and made my body an art canvas. I learned it the hard way before I reached out for help. I went to two psychotherapists and had two programs within a year. The question was, why can’t you trust your community?
Even how broken we are as individuals, when we are gathered and molded side-by-side together, we can become something whole and trustworthy (like the pages of a book). Finding a place of trustworthy people (this is possible because of verse 17). Christians believe, think, and live according to “the truth” in relation to God, themselves, and the world.
Cultivate Trust:
1. Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and ‘no’ be ‘no’
2. Know that people are finite beings, but God is infinite.
3. Stand on the truth; stop spreading rumors and gossip.
4. Walk the talk; no double life.
5. Follow Christ’s story
-> He was rejected many times.
-> Abandoned by his disciples.
-> Hurt by his enemies.
-> Didn’t experience care from his people.
Yet, Christ trusted God’s plan. He gave up his life for you and me, for us to be saved.
Conclusion: In the waves of trust issues and challenges of mistrust, there is someone whom we can trust! That is Christ, and he called a community of followers who can be trustworthy; that is the church. In the last verse, the zenith of becoming a trustworthy person and community embodies God’s perfect love (v. 23). Unless we are more trusting and trustworthy, only then can we exemplify Christ’s true community.
Sermon delivered at Union Community Bible Church – Pathway on March 3, 2024. Powerpoint link
John&Paul's Reflections 