What is your focus?

There was a set of stories told about ministers and churches.

These stories illustrate the good and bad of ministry and church work.

One preacher was asked to write a job description of what he thought his job really was.

He spent a lot of time working on this job description.

He gave it to the elders and deacons of the church and they came back and met with him.

The elder told the preacher, we loved the job description that you typed up for us.  The good news is We loved it

But the bad news is that we loved it so much and were so impressed with it that we have decided to fire you and go out and find a preacher that fits this description.

Another preacher was told that the ladies class had good news for him.

They had voted to send him a get well card to him because he was sick.

The Bad news is that the vote was 21-20 to send the card out of the forty one women in the class.

Another preacher was told -
Hey we have good news for you – someone loves your sermons – Mrs.. Jones loves your sermons

The bad news is that she also loves heavy metal music, the move Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Gong Show.

Well life is like that at times isn’t it?

Bad news and good news.

Today I want to talk about how we handle things in life. 

Bad things are going to happen and good things but how do we handle these events in our lives.

There is interesting  research study done by Vicki Medvec, a professor at Northwestern University.

She studied Olympic medalists and she discovered that Bronze medalists were happier than Silver medalists. Here’s why.

Medvec found that Silver medalists tended to focus on how close they came to winning gold so they weren’t satisfied with silver.

 Bronze medalists tended to focus on how close they came to not winning a medal at all so they were just happy to be on the medal stand at all.

I think that study reveals a fascinating facet of human nature: your focus determines your reality.

How we feel isn’t determined by objective circumstances.

 If that was the case, Silver Medalists would be happier than Bronze medalists because they had an objectively better result.

But how we feel isn’t determined by our objective circumstances. How we feel is determined by our subjective focus.

Here’s another way of saying it: your internal attitudes are more important than your external circumstances.

John Milton said it best: “The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make a Heaven out of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”

That’s so true isn’t it?

All of us know people who can find something good to focus on even in the worst of circumstances.

And all of us know someone who can find something bad to focus on even in the best of circumstances.

There is a universal principle I need to share with you right out of the gate: we tend to see what we’re looking for.

I think there are two basic types of people in the world: complainers and worshippers.

 Complainers can always find something to complain about. Worshippers can always find something to praise God about.

We see this in the nation of Israel when they are being lead by Moses from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Instead of seeing God’s blessing of provision of manna from Heaven and water in the wilderness the murmur and complain.

Instead of praising and worshipping God they complain that they had it better in Egypt. 

All of us develop hypotheses about everything all the time.

 Then we look for evidence to support our hypotheses and ignore evidence to the contrary.

For example, if you decide you don’t like someone you’ll notice everything that is wrong with that person.

And you’ll probably ignore anything you could potentially like about them.

 The flipside is true as well. If you’re head-over-heels in love with someone you tend to only notice those things you love about them.

We see what we’re looking for.

What does that have to do with worship?

A worshipper makes a pre-decision to look for something to praise God about even in the direst of circumstances.

We see this very thing in our passage today in Acts chapter 16

Bad Day

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are in a prison cell in Philippi.

I’d encourage you to read the entire chapter yourself, but let me set the scene.

Paul casts a demon out of a fortune-teller.

Her master doesn’t like it because she loses the ability to predict the future so he has Paul and Silas arrested.

As a matter of fact one of the themes we see in Acts of the Apostles is how the Gospel changes the economics of the world.

The Gospel changes things so much that it even changes how people make money and how they spend money.

Consider these places in Acts when we see this in action.

1)    Ananias and Sapphirra in Acts 5 and the property that they bring to the Apostles feet.

Acts 8 when Simon the Sorceror tries to buy the gift of God with money

Acts 19 and Ephesus how the work of the Gospel had hit the pocket books of the idol makers of Artemis.

We see that when the Gospel comes to a place and changes everything about that place.

Paganism is challenged the Political authorities are challenged and even the economics of an area are challenged.

Anyone that says the Bible doesn’t talk about money or politics must have not read Acts of the Apostles.

Acts of the Apostles is one of the most challenging books to the politics of the age and reminds the Romans that even they are accountable to God.

So with all this in mind and Paul and Silas in hot water we will turn to our text.

Acts 16:22 says, 22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely 24and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks

I think we read a story like this and it’s almost tough to put ourselves in their shoes. I’ve had bad days before, but nothing like this.

We come home from work and think we have had a bad day but nothing could stack up to being arrested, beaten half to death and then locked up in a dungeon.

If I’m Paul or Silas I’m emotionally and physically and spiritually spent. I’m drained to the last drop. I’ve got nothing left to give.

Their backs are bleeding from their beating.

They are black and blue all over.

And they had to be ticked off. I’ve never had a mob form against me, but I’m guessing that’ll set you off emotionally.

And to top it off they land in the maximum security cell in stocks!

It just doesn’t get much worse than that. And that’s why this next verse is so amazing to me.

 Acts 16:25 says 25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;

If is were me, the text might read around midnight, he was complaining and moaning to anyone that might listen.

But not Paul, he had an attitude of worship toward God.

Zoom Out

Let me share something I’ve learned from personal experience.

When I get into a spiritual or emotional slump, it’s usually because I’ve zoomed in on a problem. I’m fixating on something that is wrong.

 I’m focused on the wrong thing. Nine times out of ten, the solution is zooming out so I can get some perspective.

I will focus on all the negative going on that I lose sight of the big picture.

I forget that I am God’s child and everything will work out for His purposes and I should be content with that.

Sometimes you’ve got to zoom out and look at the big picture.

That’s what the following college student did in writing this letter:

Dear Mom and Dad,

I have so much to tell you. Because of the fire in my dorm set off by student riots, I experienced temporary lung damage and had to go to the hospital. While I was there, I fell in love with an orderly, and we have moved in together. I dropped out of school, and he got fired because of his drinking, so we’re going to move to Alaska, where we are getting married.

Your loving daughter

PS: None of this really happened, but I did flunk my chemistry class and I wanted to keep it in perspective.

Sometimes you need to zoom out and look at the big picture. You fail a chemistry exam and it feels like the end of the world. But it’s not.

So how do we zoom out?

Let me give you a one word answer: worship.

Worshipping is taking our eyes off of our external circumstances and focusing on God.

We stop focusing on what’s wrong with us or with our circumstances.

We start focus on what’s right with God.

Paul and Silas could have zoomed in and complained about their circumstances.

God, we cast out a demon and this is what we get?

 We’re on a missionary journey and we get beaten and thrown in jail?

 Instead of “watching our back” our backs are bleeding from a beating!

They could have complained till the cows came home.

But they made a choice to worship God inspite of their external circumstances.

Here’s what worship does. It restores spiritual equilibrium.

 It helps you regain your perspective.

It enables you to find something right to praise God about even when everything seems to be going wrong.

Worship is zooming out and refocusing on the big picture.

It’s refocusing on the fact that two thousand years ago, Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin.

 It’s refocusing on the fact that God loves me when I least expect it and least deserve it.

It’s refocusing on the fact that God is going to get me where God wants me to go.

 It’s refocusing on the fact that I have eternity with God to look forward to in a place where there is no mourning or sorrow or pain.

Worship is refocusing on the fundamentals of our faith

And here is what happens: God restores the joy of our salvation.

We regain our spiritual equilibrium.

Is it easy? Absolutely not.

Nothing is more difficult than praising God when everything seems to be going wrong.

 But one of the purest form of worship is praising God even when you don’t feel like it because it shows God that your worship isn’t based on circumstances.

 Worship is based on the character of God.

Oliver Wendel Holmes said there are two kinds of simplicity: simplicity on the near-side of complexity and simplicity on the far-side of complexity.

In the same sense, I think there is worship on the near-side of suffering and worship on the far-side of suffering.

Worship on the far-side of suffering has greater density and purity! It is rising above your circumstances.

 

George Bernhard Shaw said, “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.”

Worship is reframing our circumstances.

Response-Ability

There is a book called Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.

 Frankl was a Holocaust survivor who wrote about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp.

Everything was taken away from these prisoners.

 They were stripped of their clothing, their pictures, and their personal belongings.

They even took away their names and gave them numbers.

Frankl was number 119,104.

Everything was taken away except one thing.

Frankl said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

I’m absolutely convinced that the most important choice you make everyday is your attitude.

Your internal attitudes are more important than your external circumstances.

The outcome of your life will be determined by your outlook on life.

 If you have a critical or complaining spirit you’ll complain till the day you die.

Your life will get worse and worse because you’ll accumulate more and more negative experiences.

But if you have a worshipful spirit life gets better and better. Why? Because you accumulate positive memories.

At the end of the day, one way or the other, your focus determines your reality!

I think response-ability is one dimension of the Imago Dei or image of God.

We have free choice. We are response-able. In other words, we have the ability to choose our response in any set of circumstances.

Paul and Silas were in prison. Their bodies were chained.

 But you can’t chain the human spirit.

That’s what Victor Frankl discovered in the concentration camp.

That’s what Paul and Silas modeled two thousand years ago. Their bodies were chained, but their spirits soared.

I could imagine what it must have sounded like with Paul and Silas singing at the top of their lungs.

You know they were probably belting out the Psalm they were signing with all the energy they could muster.

I don’t think Paul and Silas were In Sync.

 But I think they sang with a conviction that caused their fellow prisoners to listen. They praised God at the top of their voices!

And that choice to worship set off a chain reaction.

Premeditated Cognitive Commitments

Albert Einstein said, “You can’t solve a problem on the level it was created.”

 I think problems created on a human plane are solved on the supernatural plane.

That’s what happens when we worship God. It changes the spiritual atmosphere. It charges the spiritual atmosphere.

I don’t think Paul could have planned this miraculous jailbreak.

 To make a long story short, there is an earthquake.

 The prisoners are set free, but they don’t leave!

The Jailer is about to commit suicide but Paul stops him.

The Philippian Jailer is baptized with his entire household.

You can’t script that kind of thing. You can’t plan God’s intervention into your life.

But when you worship God in the worst of Circumstances you never know what is going to happen. Worship sets the stage for awesome things to happen.

 Worship causes spiritual earthquakes that can change the topography of your life.

 Worship is a shifting of the tectonic plates in your life. It may not change your circumstances. But it will change your life.

Worship is the way we stay positive in negative circumstances.

 And it’s not a placebo! It’s reality.

No matter how bad things get, as a follower of Christ, I have eternity in heaven to look forward to!

My pain is real. But so is heaven.

 The good news is that this reality is temporary. That reality lasts forever!

The key is focusing on the right reality!

I read a fascinating statistic this week. Research indicates that the average person talks to himself or herself about 50,000 times a day.

Any guess on what percentage of self-talk is negative?

Research indicates that 80% of self-talk is negative.

We say negative things to ourselves. I’m not good enough. I’m not smart enough. And, doggone it, people don’t like me.

So here’s what happens: we let what’s wrong with us keep us from worshipping what’s right about God. We’re focused on the wrong reality.

In her book, Mindfulness, Ellen Langer says that all of us have “premeditated cognitive commitments.”

Translation: we tend to see what we’re looking for.

A pessimist will always see something bad in a good situation and an optimist will always see something good in a bad situation.

Paul gives some priceless advice in Philippians 4:8.

It’ a list of eight premeditated cognitive commitments.

He says, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

A worshipper always finds something to praise God for because they’re looking for something to praise God for. Worship is a premeditated cognitive commitment based on ultimate reality.

Chains

Here’s a closing thought: the circumstances you complain about becomes chains that imprison you.

Worship is the way out.

It was worship that set Paul and Silas free physically.

And it’s worship that will set you free emotionally and spiritually. Worship sets off a chain reaction. The prison doors fly open.

 The chains break free.

Are there circumstances that you’re allowing to imprison you? Have your complaints about someone or something become chains?

Stop focusing on what’s wrong about you or your circumstances. Start focusing on what’s right about God.

Here’s an assignment.

Every time we lapse back into negative thoughts remember this verse

. Psalm 103:2 says, “Praise the Lord and forget not all his benefits.”

When we see the negative of our situation we need to stop and say this verse over and over again until it is ingrained in us.

In the words of the hymn:

Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God has done.

Your focus will determine your reality!