What A Mess!

Our world is a mess.

We are a bunch of broken, hurting people.

BUT, instead of coming together to help each other heal, we fight and argue and attack each other.

Rather than binding up each other’s wounds, we lash out and inflict more pain.

Our world is a mess.

We are lost and confused, wandering around, carrying heavy burdens that drag us down and cause us to despair.

BUT, instead of offering a helping hand, we point fingers, shake our heads, and turn our backs on each other.

Rather than lessening each other’s loads, we pile on criticism and condemnation.

Our world is a big, huge mess.

The whole mess started way back with Adam and Eve.

They ruined everything!

They had a PERFECT life, and they still went and messed it all up.

They had ONE rule.  ONE.

And they couldn’t even follow it.

Seriously…

Thankfully, their mistake didn’t surprise God all those thousands of years ago.

Nor do our mistakes today.

He’s had a plan all along.

And NO ONE can make a mistake so horrible or awful to thwart God’s plan.

So you see, messes don’t scare God.

Messes don’t stress Him out or cause Him to panic.

I couldn’t help but think of Marie Kondo, the sweet, tiny Japanese woman who is on a mission to revolutionize the world through the “magic” art of tidying up.

Marie Kondo may be the expert at helping people de-clutter their homes, but not even she can spark enough joy to fix the mess we have gotten ourselves into.  No amount of purging, folding, and organizing can undo the terrible, terrible mess we have made. 

ONLY God can undo this worldwide mess.

God is THE expert at restoring order, redeeming the lost, binding up the brokenhearted, and healing hearts.

GOD alone can turn mourning into dancing and transform ashes into something breathtakingly beautiful.

GOD created everything out of nothing, so certainly He can clean up our chaotic, messed up world.

Actually, He IS in the process of doing just that, right this moment.

YES, right now.

Today. 

Even as we weep because of the evil all around us.

God IS at work.

Indeed, He has been working tirelessly since that day when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.

The problem is not Him.

It’s US.

WE keep messing things up.

It’s like a mom trying to clean the house while she still has toddlers living there.

Or like brushing your teeth while chewing Oreos.

Thankfully, God doesn’t give up on us.

In fact, He so graciously invites us, over and over and over again, to join Him on the mission to change our world.  And before you hold up your hand and tell me you need to clean up your own life before God can use you to do something about the mess around you, why don’t we take a look at how God seems to prefer using misfits and outcasts to accomplish His plans.

The entire Bible is actually a series of stories woven together with the common thread of redemption.

And in story after story, God seems to PURPOSEFULLY choose the most messed up people to be on His team.

Let’s go to Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

Makes sense to start at the beginning, right?

Even if you aren’t familiar with the Bible, I am guessing you have heard of Noah.

Hollywood made a movie about him, and his boat.

Yes, God chose Noah out of all the people in the world at the time.

Yes, God used Noah for a “do over” and restarted the entire human race with his family.

Yes, God showed him the first rainbow.

BUT, Noah wasn’t perfect.

Did you know he had a drinking problem? (Genesis 10:18-28)

Maybe you’re not disqualified for God’s team, after all…

Moving on, we come to Abraham.

You know, Father Abraham…he had many sons…so the song goes.

God handpicked him to become the patriarch of the entire nation of Israel. 

And how did our man Abraham do as the one selected to represent God’s team?

Well, the captain, the face of God’s chosen people, crumbled under pressure and was a big, fat liar. (Genesis 12:10-20; Genesis 20:1-18)

Feeling any better about your chances of God using you?

Despite his shortcomings, God never went back on His promise to Abraham.

His descendants DO outnumber the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.

And as we continue our research into ever-growing family tree, we are going to find a LOT of crooked, twisted branches.  God didn’t throw them out or use them as kindling though.  Instead, He built His kingdom with these messed up men, and women.

Abraham’s son Isaac played favorites.

Isaac’s son Jacob was a deceiver who robbed his brother of his birthright and tricked his ailing dad into giving him the family blessing.  Not exactly the type of guy you want your daughter marrying someday.

Maybe that’s why Jacob’s uncle Laban played a cruel, cruel joke on his nephew’s wedding day.

Jacob had worked HARD for 7 long years and was all set to marry the woman of his dreams, Laban’s daughter RACHEL. But when he lifted his bride’s veil, he found himself staring into the eyes of Leah, Rachel’s older sister.  Surprise!

Jacob’s family then became quite the tangled mess as he ended up marrying BOTH Leah and Rachel AND their personal maids.  One man, four wives.  What could possibly go wrong?!

Welp, as the jealous sisters vied for their husband’s attention and did everything in their power to one up each other and win their made up Best Boy Mom title, Jacob ended up with 12 sons and 1 daughter. 

Sibling rivalry was INTENSE.

Jacob favored Joseph, Rachel’s firstborn son, and thus the other 11 boys hated their brother.

They despised him so much that they thought about killing him, but decided instead to make a profit off him and sold him to slave traders heading to Egypt.  And you thought your kids were mean to each other?!

If you follow the storyline of Joseph, you can’t help but cry for the poor lad.

After being hauled off as a slave, he was falsely accused of rape, thrown into prison, and then seemingly forgotten about for 2 years.  Yet, it was all part of God’s master plan to REDEEM His people.  I don’t have time to go into all the details, but take a quick read through Genesis 37-50.  I know it seems like a lot, but it’s a page turner and you’ll get caught up in the drama!!!  And you will see God interweave His beautiful threads of hope and restoration with those of sorrow, grief, and loss to create a beautiful tapestry.

We’re not even out of the first book of the Bible, and we can already see how God certainly has a plan.  Even if we don’t understand what He’s doing or why He’s doing it, we can trust that God has all the details worked out. 

We watch God use Joseph to fulfill His plans and purposes, but it was actually through Jacob’s son JUDAH that He would establish His royal bloodline and introduce us to JESUS, the one who connects ALL the stories together.

As you read earlier, you might have noticed part of the story seemed out of place. If you look back at Genesis 38, you find quite the scandal tucked away in the pages of Joseph’s story.

In case you missed it, or even if you did read it already, it’s worth a second look.

We see that Judah had 3 sons and when they were grown, the oldest, Er, married a woman named Tamar.

However, Er was evil in God’s sight and died. 

As was the culture at the time, Er’s younger brother Onan stepped up and married Tamar to carry on the family name.  BUT, Onan was also evil and God took his life. 

Afraid to lose his 3^rd and final son Shelah, Judah told his daughter-in-law Tamar to WAIT until Shelah was older and then they could be married.  But he never intended to follow through.  Another liar.

Tamar waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, she took matters into her own hands.

She dressed up like a prostitute and guess who slept with her?

Judah.

Her father-in-law.

What a gentleman, huh?!

Tamar gets pregnant, with twin boys nonetheless.

Judah doesn’t realize he is the father and threatens to stone his daughter-in-law.

Hypocrite.

Tamar calls him out though and her life is spared.

She then has quite the birth experience, with one baby sticking his hand out, but before he can get all the way out, the other baby fights for position and is born first.  Now that would make a great episode on Call the Midwife!

Guess who’s in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1?  Tamar’s son Perez.

If you can get over the fact that their names are weird and super hard to pronounce, and actually take a second to read through the rest of the “boring” list in Matthew 1, you will unearth even more unusual stories.  You will see how time and time again God used the most messed up of people to create the most beautiful story of hope, restoration, and redemption.

There in verse 5, you see Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).

In most places in the Bible, Rahab’s name is followed by a title, “the prostitute.”

We first meet Rahab back at the beginning of the book of Joshua, when 2 spies are sent into the city of Jericho.

Where do the men hide out?  Rahab’s house.

2 men visiting a prostitute’s house wouldn’t cause suspension.

But what happens inside isn’t sexy or steamy or scandalous. 

Rather, we see a story of faith.

Rahab shares with the spies how the whole city was trembling in fear because of the Israelites.

She KNOWS God has given His people the victory before the battle ever begins and she asks the men to spare her life when they attack.  God not only saves her, but get this, He uses her to save US!

Yep, keep reading!!!

Rahab married Salmon.

They have a son named Boaz.

Boaz married Ruth.

Ruth, the Moabite.

Moab, the place where people “worshipped” their gods and tried to appease their fury by sacrificing their children on altars.  Moab, a place of pure wickedness and evil.

God CHOSE to use someone from there?!

Ruth left that culture behind and created a new name for herself.

She said good-bye to her family and all she knew to go with her mother-in-law Naomi who was returning to Israel after losing her husband and 2 sons in Moab.

God used these two women, a young foreigner and an old widow, to change the course of history.

Don’t EVER count yourself out.

Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed.

Obed had a son named Jesse.

Jesse had 7 sons.  We are most familiar with the youngest – David.

David, the famous giant slayer.

David, the psalmist.

David, the king.

David, the man after God’s own heart.

We smile at those titles.

They spark joy.

But let’s not gloss over the fact that David was also an adulterer and murderer. 

AND GOD STILL USED HIM!!!!

And the woman he had an affair with.

We don’t see Bathsheba’s name in the list in Matthew 1, but she’s there!

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife…

Go read the story for yourself.  It’s in 2 Samuel 11-12.

I mean, you could mistake it for a chapter from 50 Shades of Grey (though I’ve never actually read the series), or maybe an episode from the Bachelor.

A man on a roof sees a woman bathing. 

He’s taken aback by her beauty and invites her to a sleep over at the palace.

Who cares that he’s already married? 

Or that her husband is off at war fighting in David’s army?

She gets pregnant.

David tries to hide his mistake and when that doesn’t work, plan B is to have Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, killed.  Then, he marries the grieving widow who just so happens to be secretly carrying his child.

Only David doesn’t get away with murder.

God saw the whole thing and made sure David knew that.

Our sin does have consequences.

But God extends grace and offers forgiveness for every mistake we make.

We can never ever make a mess so big God can’t redeem it for His good.

David and Bathsheba have another son, Solomon.

We know him as the wisest man to have ever lived.

God used him, out of all of David’s many sons, to carry on the divine blood line.

Solomon was far from perfect, as were his sons and theirs sons.

As you read through verses 7 to 11, you see a list of kings.

Some of these men were so, so, so evil.

Others were willing to go against the flow and do what was right.

Josiah was one of these men.

Can we even call him that though?!  I mean he was EIGHT years old when he took the throne!!!

EIGHT.

That’s 2^nd or 3^rd grade these days.

Don’t even try to give me the “I’m too young for God to use me” excuse.

Josiah literally changed the course of history before he’d gone through puberty.

God must specialize in using young people.

We get through the exile and to verse 16 where we meet Mary.

Scholars suggest she was probably 12 to 15 years old when she became the mother of Jesus.

In today’s world, she couldn’t drive or vote.  She might not even be old enough to have a job at McDonald’s!

BUT, God chose her to be the mother of His Son Jesus.

And in God-fashion, He didn’t do it in a nice, neat way.

His Christmas present to the world did NOT come in a beautiful package with gorgeous wrapping paper and a big red velvet bow on top.

It was rather complicated. And once again, somewhat scandalous.

Mary and Joseph were engaged, but not yet married.

They hadn’t had relations yet, if we’re trying to be politically correct.

So of course Mary is surprised when the angel tells her she will be the mother of Jesus.

I mean, as if having GOD’s son wasn’t enough of a shock to her system, the idea of getting pregnant while still a virgin blew her mind!  Gabriel assured her the Holy Spirit would come upon her and divinely place the baby in her womb.

She believed him.

But I’m pretty sure Joseph, Mary’s parents, and the entire community had some serious questions about Mary’s incredible story.  If my daughter came home one day and told me she was pregnant with God’s son, by means of the Holy Spirit, I wouldn’t believe her.  I would be on the phone to a psychologist, making an appointment as soon as possible. 

I’m quite certain Mary and Joseph were written off as misfits.

Accusations flew.

Rumors spread.

Eyes rolled. Heads turned.

Their reputation was ruined.

Yet, God used these outcasts to parent His one and only Son.

Life wasn’t easy for them by any stretch of the imagination.

But they trusted Him all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem to Egypt and back to Nazareth.

And because of their faith, God used them in remarkable ways to write His most remarkable story.

We are all probably familiar with the Christmas story.

We have all seen the baby in the manger.

But it’s more than just a nice holiday tradition.

Jesus’ birth story can be the foundation for OUR life story.

You see, Jesus made His home here among us, for 33 years, so that we might come and make our home with Him, for all eternity.

He left heaven so that we might enter it.

He emptied Himself so that we might be filled with His Spirit.

He was born a baby so that we could become children of God.

God wants to adopt us into His family.
He wants to lavish us with love.

He then wants to use us to spread His love, bringing hope and healing to anyone who will accept His free gift of salvation!!!

We’ve quickly made our way from Genesis to Matthew and have seen how God used messed up men and women all along the way to bring about the redemption and restoration He had planned before He spoke the stars into existence.

Yes, before Adam and Eve ate the fruit and ruined perfection, God already had a plan.

He knew we would mess up.

And He created us anyway.

He KNEW we would doubt Him, deny Him, and turn our backs on Him.

He KNEW we would cause Him heartache, such heartache.

Still, He carefully designed each of us in our mother’s wombs.

He masterfully knit us together.

He generously gifted us with amazing, unique talents and skills.

He brilliantly crafted out incredible individual plans for us.

And then He breathed His very life into us.

We are His masterpieces.

But here we are making a mess of everything.

Ourselves.

Our homes.

Our schools.

Our churches.

Our communities.

Our entire world.

It’s a big, huge mess.

Know what’s NOT going to help?

Pointing fingers.

Criticizing people’s decisions.

Judging people’s opinions.

Heaping condemnation on each other’s already overly burdened shoulders.

Nope.  That just makes it all worse.

How can we get ourselves out of the mess we’ve made?

Do what God has been doing all along.

LOVE.

In our brief history course, we saw God use women who had complicated, unconventional stories.

Sarah was OLD when she had Isaac (like 90).

Tamar was a forgotten, unwanted daughter-in-law.

Leah and Rachel were jealous sisters.

Rahab was a prostitute.

Ruth was a foreigner.

Bathsheba had an affair with the king.

Mary was an unwed teenager.

Jesus knew his genealogy. 

Maybe that’s why He was so willing to show love to women the world hated or at best ignored.

He blessed the “bleeding woman” who touched the hem of his cloak.

She was unclean and shouldn’t have been allowed in public.  By touching Jesus, she made Him unclean.

Except she didn’t. 
Jesus healed her. 

He not only restored her health, but redeemed her life.

He engaged in conversation with the woman at the well.

The woman who came in the middle of the day to avoid glares and demeaning comments about her promiscuous lifestyle.  Jesus didn’t judge her, but offered her a fresh start.

Much in the same way, when the woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus, He didn’t pick up a stone to throw at her. Instead, he bent down and wrote in the dirt.  His drawing apparently so convicting that all the accusers dropped the rocks in their hands and left one by one until Jesus was all alone with the bewildered woman.  Still, He didn’t condemn her.  He extended grace and invited her to “go and sin no more.”

Time and time again, we see Jesus welcoming women to join His redemption plan.

He cast demons out of Mary Magdalene.

He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

He healed Peter’s mother-in-law.

The first people who knew of His resurrection were women.

Jesus totally went against the grain of His culture.

In God’s kingdom everything is turned upside down.

Or it is actually rightside up?

Isn’t HIS way the best way, the way WE should follow?!

And lest any men reading this think God only uses messed up women, let’s not forget the Bible is full of stories of men who wouldn’t exactly win any “Man of the Year” awards.

We already mentioned how Noah was a drunk, Abraham a liar, Jacob a deceiver, and David an adulterer.

If given more time, we could read more about how Moses was a murderer and Samson a womanizer.

God doesn’t care about your background.

God doesn’t have a list with any boxes to check regarding race, ethnicity, or economic status.

Daniel was a refugee who interpreted king’s dreams.

Timothy was a young biracial man who rose up as a major leader in the early church.

God sent Philip to explain the gospel to an Ethiopian eunuch.

A jailor opened his home to host a house church.

Then there are the very men Jesus chose to be His disciples!

On the night Jesus was on trial, Peter denied even knowing Jesus.  What a great friend? NOT.

Thomas doubted Jesus’ resurrection.   I mean, he basically called Jesus a liar.

Matthew had been a thieving tax collector, working for the Romans and pocketing extra cash for himself.

James, John, Peter, and Andrew were all uneducated fisherman.

And He chose those men to be His closest friends during His short time on earth?!

He hand selected THEM to go out into the world and spread the good news?!

He gave them the responsibility of growing His church?!

He expected them to establish His kingdom, to do His will on earth like it is in heaven?!

Let’s not forget about Saul, who was the chief persecutor of Christians before God blinded him and transformed him into the chief church builder and author of over half of the New Testament!

God can take ANYONE, absolutely anyone, and use them for His good.

He can take the most messed up individual, with the worst possible background, with the most horrendous story and use them to do the most wonderful, incredible, remarkable things. 

And if He can use them, then He can use YOU to restore and redeem the broken, hurting world. 

He can use YOU bind up the brokenhearted.

He can use YOU to heal hearts.

He can use YOU to make something absolutely beautiful out of this mess we’ve made.

Will you let Him?