Jesus on Trauma: Trauma & Failure

have you ever felt like giving up of course if your answer to that is no uh you're a superhero from another realm in another universe the reality is we've all felt like giving up um second question you ever felt like making a snow angel [Laughter] why do i ask this christmas season true story my wife and i are both in our 40s she's older than me i don't want to get into it but she said to me true story we were in a place uh here in seattle that had snow on the ground and she said i want to go for a walk and make a snow angel and i looked at her as if someone had taken over her body and i said are you serious she goes yeah i want to make a snow angel and so we walked outside and quiet actually very quietly and she she got down on the ground and she literally made a snow angel and i'm just kind of standing there and i didn't join her i don't want to get in the snow and get my clothes wet and maybe that's called getting old i don't know and i looked at her and and then she's laying in the snow and she goes i think i need you to help me up and it's a true story i'm standing over and she's like no seriously i can't get out of this like you have to help me up i have fallen and i can't get up trauma which is deeply distressing or disturbing experience that's what trauma is it's when you have a distressing disturbing experience at a very deep level that's the definition of trauma we're doing a collection of sermons on trauma this is part three have you ever gone through trauma where it leaves you feeling like i'm not gonna get up from this one i'm not gonna come back from this one see when trauma couples with failure or weakness or falling or faltering or date making a dumb decision oftentimes deeply disturbing distressing experiences can amplify our failures to a point we start to accept this is fatal this is in fact my end i have fallen and i can't get up that leads us to one of the more famous passages in all the new testament and one of the most interesting characters we ever get to witness learn about and hear about in all of scripture john chapter 8 records an interaction that jesus has with a collection of men some even priests preachers teachers of the torah and a woman it says in john chapter 8 verse 1 jesus walked up the mount of olives near the city where he spent the night then at dawn jesus appeared in the temple courts again and soon all the people gathered together to listen to his word so he sat down and taught them then in the middle of his teachings in the middle of the teachings he's interrupted by religious scholars and pharisees who broke through the crowd and brought a woman who had been caught in the very act of committing adultery and they made her stand right in the middle of everyone then they said to him jesus teacher we caught this woman in the very act of adultery doesn't moses law command us to stone such a woman to death tell us what do you say we should do with her now they were doing this not because they cared about the woman or really cared that much for the law they were doing this to test jesus their hopes were to trap him with his own words and accuse him of breaking the laws of moses this is trauma this woman is being used as a pawn she's being used as a ploy these men care nothing for her life simply using her as bait to get to get jesus to say something contrary to the law of moses it says jesus didn't answer them instead he simply bent down and wrote in the dust with his finger angry they kept insisting that he answered their questions so jesus stood looked up at them and said but the man who has never had a sinful desire throw the first stone at her and he bent down again and wrote some more words in the dust upon hearing that her accusers slowly left the crowd one at a time beginning with the oldest to the youngest with a convicted conscience until finally finally our last two verses jesus was left alone with the woman still standing there in front of him he he stood back up and said to her dear woman where are your accusers is there no one here to condemn you looking around maybe looking up for the first time in the scene she says i i see no one lord he says listen to these words i certainly don't condemn you either go and from now on be free from a life of sin i want to talk about trauma and how it affects our failures how it affects our weaknesses how it affects dumb decisions and dumb steps that we all have taken and will take when you experience as we have collectively around the world deeply disturbing distressing painful hurtful experiences like global quarantine global pandemic injustice inequity it is very easy in the midst of trauma and drama to conclude that my failure is fatal just look at this woman just look at this woman she is she's she's targeted she's trapped and she's taken advantage of think about it you know she's she's a target she's this this this trauma she is seen to be sinning by the way there's no mention of the man she was in sexual intercourse with there's no mention of him whatsoever in fact many people conjecture is well maybe he was a part of the group accusing her how hypocritical how ironic this woman is taken advantage of this woman is made to be put in the middle of the entire crowd that jesus is speaking so not only is she emotionally trapped she is quite physically literally trapped by a group of people pointing out her weakness pointing out her shortcomings pointing out a poor decision and everyone gets to weigh in on it or at least witness it this is trauma trauma on top of failure oftentimes leaves us with fatal feelings feeling like this is the end it's over for me i will never recover from 20 20. what will jesus say i mean let's be candid for a moment the accusations against this woman they well they're not wrong are they it's not like they're untrue now they're incomplete because it takes two to tango as they say and she's not the only person that was committing adultery there was a man like we said who's not recognized so she is targeted she is spotted she is made to be the focal point and it is unfair and it is inequitable and it isn't right and and her weakness her failure her poor decision is now being taken advantage of her feelings are not considered her journey's not considered her future is not considered she is simply being used as a pawn from those in power to trap jesus it's interesting because i think there is a lot of people around the world who must feel like this woman in the midst of trauma tragedy pain loss the year that was of 2020 has left you feeling trapped trapped i guess this is my lot in life i guess this is just the way it's going to be you know what i got what i deserve i made my bed now i have to lay in it these are the things we think and these are the things we tell ourselves can i ask an important question what does jesus say what will jesus say to you and what will jesus say to me see the truth is the trauma of 2020 well it it didn't consider that coupled with that we would also well we would fail in ways in 2020 like any other year of our lives we're we're going to make some poor decisions we're going to involve ourselves in things that are unhealthy and are not beneficial and are not productive and well the only difference is 2020 as compared to 2019 for example is well the problem is compounded because while we still have weaknesses and failures and shortcomings and we air and we can be wrong it's compounded by the trauma all around us my consideration and my concern as the pastor of church home is to speak directly to people who are experiencing the compound effect of trauma and failure colliding right now in your life do you feel like you have fallen and you can't get back up again maybe you feel like you have fallen you failed and you don't want to get back up again you won't get back up again i don't want anyone to help me i'm tired i'm fatigued i'm weary the truth is when we fail it takes courage doesn't it it takes strength doesn't it to get back up again it takes a sense of desire and energy to say hey i'm gonna get up and i know it's silly that snow angel that chelsea made this christmas but she was just saying hey i'm not sure i can get up out of the snow by myself and we laughed hilariously as we slowly laboriously i helped her out of the snow maybe for you it's like i don't really want to get up i'm tired i'm exhausted and if you're like me sometimes sometimes i feel like i said a moment ago this is what i deserve you ever just self-loathing you know you're like this is it's good for me i don't deserve to get up again i don't deserve to have a second chance i don't deserve to recover from this i don't you know what i should always be known by my weaknesses and my failures and my shortcomings and the mistakes i've made that's just the way it is well there is an alternative instead of just listening to yourself or maybe even listening to those around you who also tell you to stay where you are that your failure is fatal and final what if together for the next few moments we watch jesus we listen to jesus and we ask the all-important question what will you say jesus to my shortcomings my failures and my weaknesses because not only has this woman failed but now she has been traumatized she must feel so helpless and so hopeless so let's go back to the story and make a few observations before we conclude today trauma trauma trauma and failure well the bible says these these spiritual gangsters almost these these men have surrounded this woman and they are calling for her death penalty they're calling for her life to be terminated by the pulverizing of her skull with rocks that's how far these men have taken this woman's failure in fact they're insisting there jesus is he's he's in the dirt and he's he's he's silent and he's writing things he's doodling in the dirt and they just keep saying hey jesus what will you say isn't this what moses said we doesn't she deserves to die and the bible says jesus gets up from doodling in the dirt which by the way is a fulfillment of a prophecy by the prophet jeremiah which we won't get into today and he gets up from the dirt and he says well whoever's never had a sinful desire a sinful want or urge or surge throw the first stone at her and that was it supernaturally i think the conscience of these men is awakened and from the oldest to the youngest the accusers dissipate and disperse and then jesus asks a question to the woman where are your accusers this of course fulfilling the law as well because there needed to be two witnesses and she was going to be one and he was going to be one and there's some technical things going on here and so he asked for the question so she too will be a witness and then he will confirm the witness which is extraordinary how jesus does this he says where are your accusers and maybe for the first time she wipes back her hair that was hanging over her face and she looks up and she says there's no one lord and my favorite part of the story he says well i certainly the original language is emphatic i certainly don't condemn you either go you now can live a life free from sin well my failure coupled with trauma tells me that's the end tells me it's over i wonder if right now while you're watching this your emotions have been telling you for for quite some time during 2020 and now 2021 that you'll never recover your reputation will never recover your mental state will never recover your outlook on life will never recover you'll never quite expect good things like you used to you won't have the optimism you once had never again this is your lot in life what would jesus say to that do you think it's fatal do you think it's final is your life over as you once knew it i would like to say to you not according to jesus not according to here's what jesus would say to every single person who has felt the compound effect of failure and trauma and it's left you wondering will you ever truly live again the way you once did do you know what jesus says number one all have failed everyone's failed oh judah we're not going to justify our failures this is not justification this is identification this is this is honesty this is truth the bible says all have sinned and fallen short of god's standard that's why there's that they call it the golden rule do unto others as you would want others to do unto you which is to say when you falter and fail do you want mercy do you want graciousness extend that to others see when we come to the conclusion the truth of the matter that everyone has faltered and failed see this story there's a gross element to this story there's a horrific untruth in this story and that is that everyone that circles the woman are better than the woman no no but this is what we do isn't it we find people that we perceive to be worse off than us and we point a finger and by doing so we think we will improve our overall emotional well-being but it's cheap it's like fast food we think we're getting the nutrients we need but you're not it's a quick fix and it only makes when you fail and when you falter feel worse have you ever kind of belittled someone for doing something and then find yourself doing the same thing not long after and the darkness is dense as a result because you're like i've done the very thing i've despised and they say as you despise it you think about it and the likelihood of doing it grows we weren't designed to circle around other human beings whether physically or literally or even on social media we weren't designed to tweet about other humans as if they're not human we weren't designed to berate belittle make people feel small or less than that's not we've all have sinned and fallen short of god's glory of satan something's happening in the church and it has only just begun jesus is the great leveler he's the great leveler he's the great leveler he's the great leveler we're all broken we're all messy someone told me recently humans are messy their life is messy their days are messy but god's in the mess god makes up the difference in the mess all have faltered and failed you know what i don't want to participate anymore i don't want to participate in the gallery that circles around certain humans and make them feel like they're less than us that's right that's right no matter what job they hold i don't want to participate in that i don't want to participate in that no matter how public their life is it doesn't give me the right to join the peanut gallery and take shots at people that's a gross untruth for i am the woman you are the woman there's only one person who deserves to stand and condemn this woman but instead he's kneeling with his finger in the dirt wow oh god let us get down on the ground with jesus and no longer run our mouth with the gallery gossiping about our fellow human beings for all have failed olive failed i know this may sound strange but i feel like i'm supposed to tell you the beginning of 2021 and the trauma we have endured and are still enduring you are not alone in your failure you are not alone if your emotions are telling you that it's just you in the circle it's just you being picked out it's just you're the only one you're the only one that's done this you're the only one that's failed no one ever want to be embarrassed you can't tell anyone don't tell anyone what you've done because if you tell them they'll be shocked because you're the only one that's ever done that that's a lie [Music] i'll tell you one person that can relate to you this guy all have sinned and fallen short of god's glory saying number two what does this passage tell me it's that all can be forgiven oh all have failed but don't ever forget to follow it up with all can be forgiven all can be forgiven all can be forgiven all can be forgiven i said all can be forgiven all can be forgiven who's the person you think can't be forgiven they can be forgiven what's the sin in your life you think god can it's forgiven listen to me even if people don't forgive you god can forgive you god has already made supply god has already made provisions so that you can be forgiven jesus said it is finished jesus became your sin jesus became your failure jesus became your shortcoming jesus became your weakness jesus became sin so that you and i can become right with god by not doing by not deserving by not earning but by receiving all can be forgiven the bible says from the youngest to the oldest and i want to remind you again that is exactly how jesus forgives he forgives your oldest sin to your latest sin and all your future sins all can be forgiven which means if god can forgive you you can forgive you i got a sense there's some people out there you're watching right now you're part of church home or maybe you're considering being a part of church home and your biggest hurdle in 2021 is forgiving yourself for 2020 forgiving yourself how much has been revealed it's in an interesting 2020 we said would be the year of clear vision and we all mocked and scoffed and laughed because we felt it was anything but that but if we're honest 2020 has been a revealer it's been a season where things have become clear not just good things bad things whoa that needs to be addressed that injustice that sin maybe you can look back at 2020 and think i'm a mess and i would say i'm gonna have to agree it's all my but there is one who can forgive all your heir your wrong and your sin listen to me all can be forgiven don't know if it's the most important statement jesus ever made because i am not well versed enough in the nuance of the new testament to make such a statement but i'll be bold enough on this day to say it is one of the more significant emphatic statements jesus ever uttered he said i certainly do not condemn i absolutely am not a proponent of condemnation and shame that word condemn means oppress that word condemn means to bring low jesus says i will not bring you low i will not oppress you i will not make you small the word condemned means to hold someone under jesus is saying i will not hold you under your sin i will not hold you under what you've done i will not hold it over your head i will not remind you the bible says as far as the east is from the west so god has separated you from your failures and your weaknesses and your sins and so contrary to popular cultural norms you are not what you did in 2020 you are defined by what jesus did 2 000 years ago jesus says i will not hold you under your weakness i certainly don't condemn you i certainly don't condemn you i certainly don't condemn you i wonder if you would be so bold even in the next few days to audibly speak out your failures and your weaknesses from 2020 and then follow those statements with saying i lied in 2020 but jesus certainly does not condemn me i was a fraud in 2020. i faked it in this i certainly i was lustful in 2020. i was selfish in 2020 i was racist in 2020 i was a bigot in 2020 but jesus certainly does not hold me under but he lifts me up because my last observation is very simple all is new oh all have failed but all can be forgiven and all is new i know what you're thinking anything in judah it's just a calendar i know it's a new year but all isn't new no this is his specialty this is what jesus does he makes all things new he gives you a new perspective he gives you a new expectation he gives you a new sense of purpose he gives you a new sense of identity why can't this be the beginning of something new i'm here to tell you this failure this weakness your propensity and proclivity for self-serving selfish behavior this is not your end jesus doesn't hold you up under your lowest moments in 2020 no he says come on you need to get back up again i'm going to help you get back up again the bible says though a righteous man fails falters is weak sins heirs seven times he will get back up again all is new and here's here's i'm coming to close here's the word that really got me this time and i have poured over this passage so many times over the years of being a preacher such a beautiful story [Music] but this time in 2021 right off the heels of one of the most well extraordinary and excruciating years and maybe human history jesus says go [Music] go you ever been in a stoplight that makes no sense you ever been in a stoplight and it's like late at night you're looking around you're like there's no one here and you're like when is the stop light gonna turn green because there's no reason for me to be stopped i think a lot of jesus followers even those considering follow jesus you are sitting at a stop sign that you you're sitting in a stoplight you think is red and it's been green the whole time but your emotions keep telling you you don't deserve to go anywhere so you sit there thinking this is what i deserve this is my bed and now i have to lay in it and jesus says go go in other words this isn't your end this isn't where you're gonna stay this isn't what's going to define you it's time to go it's time to go see we got a decision to make out of 2020. we got a decision the trauma that we're enduring are we going to go and grow are we going to stay and stew i know those aren't the only two choices in life but right now they seem like the most paramount choices right now in human existence you can go and grow or you can stay and stew you can stay and say this person did that and i did this and i shouldn't have said that and i wish i would have done that but you know it is what it is and this is just my lot and i'm done and i'm never gonna have this and i'm never gonna have that and i guess that was a pipe dream i guess it'll never happen or you can say i'm going to go and though i'm in pain and though it's been difficult and though there might be some regret and though there are some things i would have done different and i wish i wouldn't have done that in 2020 was not ideal it was not the year i was looking for i'm still going to go jesus says go move walk step progress is the pain so real you feel like it took your goal there is nowhere in scripture where it says to go you got to be pain-free to go you got to be weakness free to go you got to be sin free to go you got to be perfect no you can go i want you to think of the circumstance in which jesus utters the word go is she barely covered in a sheet how many minutes ago was she sleeping with a man she wasn't married to how dare jesus say jesus she needs therapy she needs counseling she needs reprieve she needs to take a break she needs to go and all those things may very well be true but nonetheless i repeat to you and to me go go where go on with your life go on with what god put in your heart go on with your dream go on with the vision god gave you go on to your neighbor's house go on to that city go on to that country go on to the next chapter live your life to the fullest his grace is sufficient i want to say this about church home we are not wishing for days gone by we are going forward you can't go backwards we're gonna go forward jesus says go i want to say it again in other words don't stay here don't camp here don't stop here don't let this define you this is not your end this is not your final chapter there is not a period after 2020 there is a dot dot dot what's next for you you know what's amazing about god you thought a job defined you that job never defined you you've lost the job guess what god's gonna give you another job there's gonna be another job you thought to yourself my marriage is over so my life is over i'm here to tell you whatever you believe about from scripture there is life after divorce there is life after a breakdown of your family keep going go and grow let go don't hold on all is new not all is lost all is new it's a new day it's a new beginning his mercies are new every morning it's new it's new it's new it's interesting because if we didn't go to sleep every day life would just go go go go go go i've said this before but god makes us well he makes us unblock and and we sleep and then we wake up and it's a new day just because you fell yesterday doesn't mean you can't get up and go today [Music] so that's what we're going to do we're going to go this goal is from god you hear me this goal is from god this goal is from god when god says you can go you can go have you stopped growing have you stopped anticipating further development perspective understanding insight wisdom there is so much more to grow into to go into and to experience with god please hear me church home the adventure in front of us is going to be the ride of a lifetime what an honor it is i can stand here and say i know what it is to get back up again so if you say judah i i'm good i i'm i'm i'm i have not fallen i feel like i'm on my feet oh thank you thank you thank you then can you be a part of those in this community who help others up let us be a church that never circles around people and points a finger let us be the church that extends a hand to our fellow man so they can get up and get going for all that god has ahead let me pray jesus i thank you so much for the minutes and moments we share thank you for what you're saying and what you're doing we love you thank you for these stories these ancient stories where we can see you and know how you will deal with us speak to us help us save us minister to us we love you jesus if you're here and you're watching you say judah i would like to become a follower of jesus you can't earn it deserve it warn it you just accept it and receive it that's it simple as that if you receive jesus right now as your lord as your savior as the superhero of human history say this right out write out loud with me i receive you jesus right now just say right out loud i receive you jesus wherever you are oh that seems silly no no when you hear yourself say that it will remind you this is real and it's happening in your soul right now every air wrong sin totally forgiven past present future you are forgiven loved accepted you'll be home in eternity with him soon in the meantime we're gonna get up and we're gonna get going for we are forgiven forever

Channel: Churchome

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Keywords: Churchome, Judah, Judah smith, church, message, anxiety, depression, how to, elevation, Steven, Hillsong, oceans, sermon, the city church, church home, Chelsea smith, bobby Houston, td jakes, pastor, pastor preaching, carl lentz, Jesus, conference, guest speaker, sermon jam, worship, Justin Bieber, la Hillsong, Selena, preaching, Judah message, performance

Id: T5fZ8_C7MaA

Length: 35min 45sec (2145 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 25 2021