Presence Not Platitudes || State Road Church Of The Nazarene

a New York City subway platform with his two

small children when something horrifying happened.

A young man had a seizure. He was standing right

there on the edge of the track waiting for the

train to come and he fell onto the tracks. People

screamed. The train was coming and no one moved,

but Wesley did. He jumped into the danger and

pressed the man in between the two rails into

a trench. that was there. Seconds later, the

train roared overhead, missing them by inches.

Later, when he was asked, Wesley said this. He

was asked, why did you do what you did? And this

was his response. I saw someone who was in need

and I had to act. He didn't overthink it. He

didn't call experts. He didn't form three committees

to study it. He just entered the mess. and saved

a life. So let me ask you, what would happen

if we saw emotional and spiritual pain the same

way? What if we stopped waiting for professionals

and just started acting like Jesus? Because the

truth is, we all know this, but the world around

us is filled with people who are sinking. Not

into train tracks, but into trauma, grief, and

shame. And the world doesn't need more spectators.

They need disciples who follow Jesus' example

into the mess. So here's the question. How should

we respond to the hurting? Not just with intentions,

but with Christ -like compassion. So obviously

in this, Jesus is a great example. He's the one

who dove in first. Long before Wesley was diving

into the mess, Jesus dove into the mess. So a

mess is probably a good way of describing the

world that we live in, right? I think that we

could all agree with that. So many of the people

that you and I know find themselves experiencing

deep hurt. And the problem with deep hurt is

it dehumanizes. It silences. It isolates. I don't

know if you've realized this or you've probably

been on the receiving end of it at least once,

but sometimes our Christian responses, though

they have good intentions, Sometimes they make

things worse, right? Sometimes people just say

some of the craziest things that don't help at

all. And we tend to stay safe instead of entering

into pain. We tend to speak more than we listen.

We tend to offer grace without truth or truth

without grace and both of those get us into trouble.

And sometimes we walk away when things start

to get hard. So not only is that a failure of

compassion, it's a discipleship failure. And

here's the main problem that we have when that

begins to happen. The people that we're around

and who hear us say those things, they start

to believe that God thinks about their pain the

same way that we do. And they begin to believe

that God responds to their pain. the same way

that we do. Let me give you an example of that

from Scripture. If you have your Bible there,

I'm going to give you a bunch of verses today,

but this one's in Job chapter 2. Job chapter

Job 2 · chapter mention Job 2 · chapter mention

2, and I'm going to give you another verse here

in Job in just a second, but this is Job chapter

Job 2:13

2 verse 13. So Job's already had all kinds of

horrible things happen to him, and to say that

he was in deep pains and understatement. So he's

at the point where his friends show up. And this

is Job chapter two verse 13. So they show up

and 13 says this they sat on the ground with

him for seven days. No one said a word. Now we've

talked about this fairly recently but I think

that's a pretty good response. So I think when

you have friends who are in deep pain I think

that's acceptable just for you to show up and

say nothing. Rick Warren says that people in

deep pain they don't need Bible verses they don't

need Anything like that what they need is for

you to show up and shut up and Job's friends

get it right for a little bit They do just that

they show up they sit on the ground with him

for seven days and no one says a word But then

they open their mouth And you know how it goes.

They made it nothing but worse instead of listening

they judged and instead of comforting They tried

to explain Their theology was nice and neat and

tidy But their hearts were very distant and then

if you are still in the book of Job turn back

toward the end of it Job chapter 42 verse 7 and

Job 42:7

this is what God has to say to the friends So

they did a pretty good job for a while They just

showed up didn't say anything But then they opened

their mouth and and it just wasn't good and this

is what God thinks about their response So it's

42 verse 7 and God's speaking to them to the

friends of Job You have not spoken the truth

about me as my servant Job has. So he's basically

challenging them and said, hey, you've completely

misrepresented me and you've said some things

about me that simply aren't true and you've caused

Job to believe some things or at least give him

the idea about some things that just simply aren't

true. So here's some things that I think we can

all agree on. Hurting people don't need platitudes.

Right? Hurting people don't need platitudes.

What they do need is presence. What they do need

is empathy, not explanations. Hurting people

need companions, not critics. Heisen Center was

one of the buildings on Mount Vernon's campus

that I spent a whole lot of time in, and of the

time that I spent in there, I spent most of the

time with two professors. I either had Dr. David

Q .B. who taught all of the church history classes

and a lot of the theology classes. And Dr. Qubey

was one of those professors that he couldn't

find a book that was written well enough for

him, so he wrote all of his own books. Like every

last book that I had for one of his classes,

he wrote the book himself. So he was that kind

of guy. The other guy I had in Heissen Center

quite often was a guy by the name of Rick Riding.

And he was one of my favorite professors because

Rick Riding was just like completely the opposite

end of the spectrum. So like sometimes at one

point he gave us a final exam. This was our final

test in this class. And somebody was pretty broken

and he said, well, This class has been how to

help people, so you're gonna do that and that's

your test. So he takes off his glasses and sits

in the back of the room and lets us minister

to somebody in the class. I absolutely loved

every class that I had with Rick Writing. And

Rick Writing, he would like read us little books

sometimes. He would have like story hour with

Dr. Writing. And there always was a reason that

he chose that book, but one of the books that

he would read large portions of to us. And one

of the classes was the wounded healer by a guy

by the name of Henry Nowen. And in this particular

class on this day, he loved Dietrich Bonhoeffer

and he loved, he loved Henry Nowen. So he was

reading some from Henry Nowen and he would read

us like half a chapter a day. It's how we'd start

our class together. So he's reading from the

Wounded Healer and there's part of the book of

the Wounded Healer that says this, who can take

away suffering without entering into it? He's

talking about helping hurting people and what

we do when the people around us are wounded and

how we can care for them. And one of the friends

in my class He's kind of this entire thing rubs

him the wrong way and he's not quite sure what

to do with all of this and and he's kind of more

of a fundamentalist so he he raises his hand

and he He says with all due respect. I Think

what people really need is they need to hear

the word of God That's what he said would really

transform somebody's life In doctor writing,

he was just one of these guys that he was really

great at asking you questions and like you would

ask him a question, he would come back with a

question and really would make you think. So

he kind of nods for a second and folds his arms

and he says to my friend, he says, have you ever

sat with somebody who just learned that their

cancer was terminal? And the answer was no. And

then he went on, he said, or have you ever sat

with a man whose wife no longer recognizes him

because of dementia? And he said, no. And then

Dr. Ridings said, well, what would you say to

them? What would you say to people in those kind

of situations? And my friend said, I'd remind

them of God's promises. I would begin by reading

scripture to them. Then dr. Writing in a way

that only he would say he said and if they took

their Bible and threw it across the room at you

And they shouted at you. Where was your God?

What would you say then? And my friend said I'd

still preach the truth to them And dr. Writing

in a way that only he could do takes off his

glasses Sets them down on the lectern and he

said young man If words were enough, God would

have sent a cassette tape. Now that'll tell you

how old I am. And he walked out of the room.

The room felt absolutely silent. And that morning

the word was preached, just not the way that

my friend was expecting. So what do you do when

presence, not preaching, is what's needed? What

if our responses could reflect the very heart

of Jesus? Because obviously I mean we're Jesus

people we follow him But sometimes our response

to to the hurting people around us to the brokenness

around us is very different than his response

John 1 14 says this the word became flesh and

dwelled among us the Greek word that's used there

Literally means that he pitched his tent Some

translations say that he moved into our neighborhood.

That's what he did So the word became flesh and

pitched his tent with us is the word became flesh

and moved into our neighborhood Jesus didn't

shout truth from a distance. He embodied it up

close God's response to pain wasn't a message.

It was a life Jesus embraced limits he cried

real tears, he sat with the grieving, he touched

the untouchable, he entered our pain, and that's

to become our model. When we talk about how we

help hurting people, that's our model, that's

what we do. To follow Jesus is to enter in. It's

not to avoid the pain of others, but to enter

in. So I wanna give you six insights that we

can see in the life of Christ. Jesus' perfect

theology. and he models this well for us and

how to help hurting people. The first one is

we must leave glory. Everyone say that. I think

it's even on the screen, right? We must leave

glory. Philippians chapter two, verses six and

seven says that it's talking about Jesus. It

says, Jesus, who being in the very nature, God

did not consider equality with God something

to be used for his own advantage. Rather, he

made himself nothing by taking on the very nature

of a servant being made in human likeness. What

does that all mean? That Jesus didn't cling to

his status, that he stepped down from all of

that. And if we're going to help hurting people,

so what must we? Healing begins with humility

and proximity. So this week I was thinking about

that truth and I was reminded of the passage

in James chapter five and we've talked about

this verse several times. It's verses 14 and

15. So here's the gist of it that if we if we

need healing that we should call the elders together

they should pray over us and that the prayer

of faith will anoint us with oil and the prayer

of faith will make us whole. Right. It's James

chapter five. You know that verse and we believe

in that in the Church of Nazarene. We believe

in that. So if there's a physical need that we

should call the elders together that they'll

pray over us they'll anoint with oil and the

prayer of faith will make you whole. We still

believe that. But here's the thing that I was

thinking about this week. That entire model,

that entire approach is not distant ministry.

So that entire thing means that we're in relationship

with people, that we know who the elders are,

that we reach out to them, that we're in community

with them, that we call on them, that they pray

over us. Literally they... You can't do this

by proximity The the fact is that you have to

have a face -to -face conversation with them

and say hey Would you pray with me about this

and they pray with you in that moment? It's not

it's not like would you pray with me about this

and we never actually pray or we tell people

hey I'll pray with you about that, but we don't

really ever have the intention of praying with

them It's that they come to us and ask for prayer

we pray immediately on the spot that we pray

over them That it's impossible to anoint with

oil if you're not there I mean, I don't mean

to overstate the obvious, but if you're going

to anoint somebody with oil, if you're going

to put oil on your hand and you're going to anoint

them with oil, that means that they're there.

That you're in close proximity to them. You can't

do a Hail Mary with anointing oil. If somebody's

going to be anointed, they have to be there in

close proximity. If we're going to allow them

to hear our prayer over them, it also means that

we're in enough of a relationship with them that

we know what's going on in their life and that

we know the specific details that we're agreeing

with them about in prayer. Here's the point to

all of that. You can't do any of that without

being in close proximity. It speaks to relationship.

It speaks to intimacy. To pray over someone,

you have to know their wounds. Sometimes healing

begins when somebody dares to stay long enough

to touch what everyone else has avoided. It was

a hot Sunday. There were many of them that were

hot Sundays because the sanctuary in this assignment

did not have air conditioning. So I pastored

in a place that the offices had air conditioning,

but no other part of the building did. So days

like today if it was I don't know how hot it

is outside right now. It's probably in the 70s

right probably mid 70s So on days like today

when it was mid 70s outside with the humidity

it would have been like 95 degrees in the sanctuary

and It was one of those days So I would tell

people all the time. I'd be like, hey, I want

you to come to church. We had evening services,

too. And I would tell them all the time, I just

want you to come. So I mean, I don't want you

to come in like a bikini. I mean, I don't want

that. But if you need to come in shorts and a

t -shirt, I'm absolutely OK with it. I just want

you to come. And it's going to be hot. It's going

to be miserable. So it was one of those kind

of nights. And I had just finished preaching

the evening service. And it was hot. I mean,

I wish I could have worn shorts and t -shirts.

I would have done it myself, but just hot I'm

dripping with sweat and just had finished up

preaching So the mornings it'd be like 95 in

the sanctuary But when the Sun would beat down

on the roof, it would be well over a hundred

degrees every Sunday night in the summer and

just miserable So the windows are open and that's

not doing much to help anything and I finish

up preaching and my phone rings I was I was pastoring,

but I was also kind of the fill -in hospice chaplain

for the county hospice. And the hospice director

also was a nurse. And she, because we were pretty

low on staff anyways, but she was out working

with somebody that night and she said, hey, this

woman who, and she starts to try to explain to

me how there's this very loose connection to

the church. I think what she was really trying

to say is that maybe at one point, She might

have pulled through the church parking lot. I

think that was about the only connection we had.

But she's like, there's this loose connection.

And I'm like, it doesn't even make sense. But

the point of all of it was that she needed somebody

to come to Bennington Glen, one of the skilled

care facilities just on the outskirts of town,

and spend some time with this lady who wasn't

going to survive the night. So I said, give me

a little bit of time. It'll take me a little

bit to get over there, but I'll head out that

way and spend a little bit of time with this

lady. I've never met her. I don't know her. And

one of my board members was standing there. His

name was John. And I said to John, I said, you're

coming with me. He's like, me? I'm like, yeah.

Yeah, you are. You're coming with me. And he

said, I'd love to do that. Thanks for asking.

So I said do you need some time to go get cleaned

up? I know that it's hot and he said no no I

should be good and we can just jump in the car

so we make our way out to Bennington Glen and

when we get there the hospice nurse and hospice

director They're standing there talking to me,

and I said hey Tell me a little bit about what's

going on. I don't know this lady. I said where's

her family at and They said that she only has

two surviving relatives And I said, OK, that's

fine. Where are they? And she said, they've made

the choice not to come. OK. Do they know what's

happening? Yes, we've been clear with them. They've

just made the choice not to come. I said, OK.

So John and I make our way into the room. And

we don't know this lady. John doesn't know the

lady. I don't know the lady. But for about the

next six, seven hours, I watched as John laughed

with her Cried with her Would get washcloths

put cold water on them put them on her forehead

And we just did everything that we could just

to make her last few hours on earth comfortable

and When it was her time? To leave earth She

didn't have to do it alone You know my friend

that day in class wasn't entirely wrong Scripture

does bring life amen mean scripture does bring

life so I don't want to I don't want to devalue

the place of scripture scripture is important

to us but the word didn't remain ink on a page

the word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood

the word became flesh and showed up at Bennington

Glen the word became flesh and laughed with and

cried with and put cold rags on your head that's

what the word did So for us to help hurting people,

we have to do the same thing. We have to leave

glory, leave the things that make us comfortable,

and we have to put ourselves in situations that

make us uncomfortable. Number two. We have to

become little Matthew chapter 18 verses 3 & 4

Matthew 18:3

The phrase I want you to listen for is this unless

you become like little children So Jesus is speaking

and this is what he says and he said truly I

tell you Unless you change and become like little

children, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven

Therefore over who want whoever takes this lowly

position of this child is the greatest in the

kingdom of heaven So here's the point all of

that. We're not heroes We're just humble servants

So, I'm just going to move on. I got stuck in

the filter. We're not heroes. We're just humble

servants. True help starts not with answers,

but with presence. So, you know, children just

say the simplest things. And it's a blast watching

children because they're not interested in who

gets the credit for things. They just do what

they need to do. Number three we have to enter

the darkness. So you already know this right,

but Jesus is not scared of the dark. Did you

know that? Jesus isn't scared of the dark. So

we have to enter the darkness John 1 14 the word

became flesh and made his dwelling among us Pitched

his tent among us moved into our neighborhood.

Here's the rest of the verse We've seen his glory

the glory of the one and only son who came from

the father full of grace and truth Jesus entered

the dark places Jesus entered the shadows and

he brings light because he's not afraid of the

dark and We have to choose presence over avoidance

and Sometimes that means that we just have to

say Lord help me with the things that caused

me to be afraid of the dark And help me to allow

my light to shine there even even in those difficult

places number four we must bear grace and truth.

John 1 14 again talks about this, that we've

seen his glory, the glory of the one and only

son who came from the father full of grace and

truth. So I know that we've talked about grace

and truth quite a bit, but I want to kind of

reframe it and just give you a little bit of

a different perspective today. Today I want you

to think about grace as that which embraces.

So grace embraces, it almost kind of rhymes,

right? Grace embraces and truth sets free So

grace does what? Embraces truth sets free hurting

people need both of those right they need the

embrace and They need the truth that sets them

free And if we're gonna help hurting people we

need to be quick to give both of those grace

and truth number five We must not abandon John

14 8 It says a bunch of other stuff, but the

part that I want you to catch in John 14 8 says

this, Jesus is making a promise to us, and here's

the promise, I will not leave you as orphans.

That's a really good thought. Jesus promises

he will not leave us as orphans. So here's the

point to all of that. Not only did Jesus move

into the neighborhood, not only did he pitch

his tent with us, he stayed. He stayed until

the need was taken care of, and we must do the

same. We need to stay. When we find people who

are hurting, we need to not just run away the

first time it gets difficult, but we need to

stay. Number six, we need to not lose perspective.

Romans chapter 12 verse two says that we're transformed

Romans 12 · chapter mention

by the renewing of our mind. Pain is heavy. Progress

is slow. There's a paper that Joel put up. He

heard me say something a while back. And it's

just a good thing for us to remember. It was

actually from a pastor talking to a youth pastor.

He was talking about the way things work in the

church and the way things work in the kingdom.

And here's the thing that he would tell us, all

of his staff. But he would say this, you have

to remember that small is big and slow is fast.

So when we're talking about just the pain and

the brokenness of the world around us pain is

heavy and progress is slow I'm not telling you

anything. You don't already know and the thing

that is Refreshing to us is that we're not expected

to be the healer We're just the vessel the world

says fix the problem. Jesus says just be faithful.

Let me heal it So here's the good news. Here's

the gospel you're not alone in this work The

same spirit who empowered Jesus now empowers

you and his strength is made perfect in weakness

and His love still casts out fear and when we

respond like Christ healing happens Dignity is

restored Hope is rekindled The image of God begins

to shine again You don't have to be perfect.

Just present not a fixer Just faithful. So here's

the invitation today Not just to feel compassion

but to act upon it. So these prayer stations

in a minute you'll have the opportunity to respond

and this will help you lead you through some

of those same questions. But here are the questions

that I want you to think about with me. Will

you leave glory? Will you become little? Will

you enter the darkness? Will you bear both grace

and truth? Will you stay? Will you keep perspective.

You may not be a counselor, but you can be a

companion. You may not be a therapist, but you

can show up and you can love. And if you're hurting,

especially if you're hurting by wounds that are

caused by the church, I want you to hear this.

God has not abandoned you. He sees you. He draws

near. He heals. So my challenge for us today

is this let's walk like Jesus. Let's love like

Jesus Let's stay like Jesus So in a moment when

we're done with the prayer stations I'm gonna

go ahead and give you the benediction now, but

I'll give it to you in reverse order But so here's

the benediction when we're done with these things

So now go not with all the answers but with his

presence