Redemption
Rhoda Sturgeon · Tidal Church Moncton · June 1, 2025 · The Promises of God series
Rhoda Sturgeon centres on Isaiah 61:7 and the stories of Ruth, Hannah and David, showing how God exchanges shame for honor. Her own story of loss and healing reminds listeners that the struggle is real, but not permanent.
More from Rhoda Sturgeon · The The Promises of God series
Transcript
[0:00] Well, I am just loving this series of God's promises, and I'm so excited this morning that I get to share with you the promise of redemption. And I've titled this message, "The Struggle Is Real, but Not Permanent." You're probably like me. You love a great story. It's easy to watch a TV drama like Friends, as long as we're not in the drama, right? It's easy to read a million-novel bestseller like Agatha Christie, as long as we are not in the crime scene. But the struggle is real when the struggles are a struggle, though I was born into a family of missionaries.
[0:48] We, my parents, smuggled Bibles, thousands of Bibles from Western Germany into the Soviet Union in the seventies, in a little Volkswagen van. There's a picture of my brothers and I in Red Square, Moscow. I'm the youngest and the little red jumpsuit. Yeah, we were pretty cute. So, shortly after that picture was taken, our family was arrested and detained, and we were held for several days. And because we were Canadian citizens, we were expelled from the Soviet Union never to return again, which actually wasn't the worst thing that could have happened to us.
[1:34] I'm sure you all know. But in that really amazing story, I'm sure that my parents had so many of their struggles of their own in those details. Just, you know, like who on their team had betrayed them? You know, what was gonna happen to the plan that God had for them, their purpose, and were they abandoned? Those were probably some of the questions that they had. And you might be there today in your story, and you might have struggles feeling betrayed or abandoned. There might be stories of depression or anxiety, and I want you to know that that is a story of great pain.
[2:22] But if we look at the Bible, there are many, many stories of the story from pain to peace throughout the Bible. And God specializes in turning situations around. He lifts up the oppressed and transforms us from the stories of brokenness and disappointment and shame, and to testimonies of His grace and His favor. If we look at Isaiah 61:7, it says, "Instead of your shame, you will receive a double portion. Instead of disgrace, you will rejoice in your inheritance." And this passage underscores the divine exchange God offers to His people, a shift from honor, from shame to honor, and from humiliation to celebration.
[3:20] So let's just have a look at identifying shame. Might be something that we've had in our past. I'm pretty sure we've all had something that we feel shame about. Let's see how we can identify it, take action, and examples from the Bible. So, understanding shame, shame can stem from past mistakes. Maybe it was failure, maybe it was something that happened to you. Like, you know, like Tyler had shared his testimony last week. And these can be things that have happened to you totally out of your control that you have been carrying around with you. And some biblical examples of individuals who carried shame was Hannah.
[4:08] She carried the shame of infertility. She wasn't able to have children. And David, David had many sins, King David. And he carried those heavy with him. So let's look at number two. God's power to transform. That's good news. So, Ruth's story. So Ruth was a Moabite widow. Moabites were not considered to be a part of the community. So her being a widow especially identified her, marked her as an outsider, vulnerable to hardship and exploitation in a male-dominated society. Her future really looked pretty bleak, but God took her.
[4:55] And with care and guidance, she found favor with Boaz and became a lineage of King David and ultimately to Jesus Christ. So about 15 years ago when my children were just two and three, so they're here today, one of them's gonna graduate in a few weeks. And, but she, when she was just two and my son was three, their dad passed away quite suddenly. And we lived in another country. Responsibilities just became very overwhelming. I became a single parent. If you've been there or maybe you have been divorced and you've gone through something tragic, or you're a single parent, you know how life can change very, very quickly.
[5:47] And I just felt this sense of shame and this sense of brokenness. And, you know, the first time I got a widow's check and, you know, the government gives you a check. And I remember looking at it, thinking, is this my identity? Now when children, when a child, even one child, loses a parent in Canada, they're considered to be an orphan. Is that my children's identity? So it just, yeah. And even through all of those major changes, I remember calling out to God. And I remember God was always so faithful. There was, you know, like one morning way before, no, my lawn was getting crazy long and somebody just showed up to my house.
[6:40] And one day where I was just feeling really overwhelmed, and I just said, I know this is kind of funny, but I just feel like I'm supposed to mow your lawn. Is that okay? And I was just, you know, I probably started to cry just 'cause I was so overwhelmed. But sometimes, you know, like you just know that that's God, He lifts you up. And other times there'd be somebody who would show up and they would be like, you know what? I just feel like you need a break. Could I take care of your kids? And if you are on the other side of that, and you ever get that little nudge that I feel like I'm supposed to do something, but it feels kind of weird, that's God speaking to you, and you could be the answer to somebody's prayer. So another good example of a breakthrough is Hannah's breakthrough.
[7:29] Hannah, once mocked and humiliated for her infertility, was lifted up by God. God eventually gave her a son, Samuel, who became a great prophet of Israel. She sang songs of praise to God, declaring how He lifts up the needy from the ash heap and seats them with princes, with royalty. So let's look at number three, principles for moving from shame. So trust in God's promises. Isaiah 61:7 promises a double portion for our shame. When we trust in God and lean on Him, His promises, He turns our shame into glory.
[8:19] The next one is maintain a humble and repentant heart. So David, king of Israel, commits adultery with his officer's wife, and then tries to plan his officer's death. Like these are big things. And he realizes that, what am I doing? And he goes to God and he repents and he's very sincere. And God sees that. He sees that He, he was, He was really sincere about what he did, and he felt a lot of remorse for that. And God restored him. And God is drawn to those who are humble and repentant, and He delights in transforming your story. Faithful obedience.
[9:12] So the example of Ruth's obedience to Naomi. So her mother-in-law, just saying, it could've, couldn't have always been that easy, but she didn't complain. She stayed faithful. And that led her to God. Divine connection to Boaz. It is in our obedience that God positions us for His blessing. Number four, the divine exchange. When God turns shame into honor and glory, He doesn't just restore it. He multiplies blessings, as He did with Job. When Job went through his time of suffering and loss, God restored everything that he had lost. In Isaiah 61:3, God promises to give a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
[10:20] That's great news. And maybe there's parts of your story that you're feeling, yeah, I do have shame, and it might be something that you've done. It might be something that somebody else did to you, and it might be something that's been passed on through generations. Family secrets, right? And I want you to know that you're not alone. But we also do have, I oversee some programs for grief, if you've had a death of a loved one. It's a program and support group. So we walk alongside you as you're going through the hardest times of your life.
[11:05] Then there's also another program that I oversee, and it's going through healing of trauma. So we go through the steps of identifying and healing from trauma. So if these are something that you're interested in, this isn't it, we would love to walk alongside you through these times and also Celebrate Recovery, which Marc and Tyler spoke about last week. So I want you to just remember, six, Isaiah 61:7, instead of your shame, you will receive a double portion of honor. And instead of disgrace, you will rejoice in your inheritance of everlasting joy.
[11:54] I love that we serve a God who blesses us with double blessings of favor, mercy, and love, even when we don't feel like we deserve it. Shame has a way of just making you feel like you are broken, like you're unworthy. It can be a feeling of real brokenness. Shame tells you that you are bad, whereas guilt makes you, tells you that you have done something bad. It tries to become your identity, which couldn't be further from the truth. If you've experienced a breakup, death, divorce, assault, or an experience, something that's traumatic, that makes you feel disconnected from yourself, it's okay to feel that pain.
[12:51] But I want you to know that there is hope, and hope lies in the arms of Jesus. I want you to understand that there is redemption on the other side of this suffocating feeling of shame. And don't remain stuck, because that's all too easy to do. It doesn't matter what you've done, what lies in your past, or how unworthy that you think that you are. You can choose to let God pick up your pieces right now and make you whole. If you accept Jesus into your life, you choose to receive His offer to restore you, your brokenness into something beautiful and whole.
[13:39] And while He might not do it in the way that you think, He will do it in a way that shines light through your hurt, that can help other people, kind of like He's done with me. I love spending time in nature, and especially this time of year, we've made it through the winter and we're finally into June. And it is so beautiful and I just love it so much. But I have a picture here of an oak tree, and you might be thinking that's the ugliest oak tree I've ever seen. But this tree has a lot of bumps and there's like one especially big bump and it looks like a big wart.
[14:28] And there's actually a name for that big wart. It's called a burl. And burls are made, it, when a tree undergoes a great amount of stress or trauma, and while the tree is undergoing all of that stress on the inside, it's making all of these beautiful different designs and curves. And I have one here with me today after it's been polished. And yeah, you can just kind of see how beautiful, like, once you get the bark off it and you get it cleaned out, you can just see all of those deep, deep designs.
[15:21] And I kind of wonder when I see something, you know, something really dark, I kind of wonder what kind of a storm did that tree go through to create such a big burl? And I think it's kind of like us when we have something really big and terrible that happens with us, and we feel this sense of shame and we hide it just like the burl, the kind of the, green, all grows over it and you try to kind of hide it. And Jesus just wants us to give it to Him. And He just wants to make something beautiful and unique with and heal where we've been hurt.
[16:18] Don't allow the enemy to keep you trapped in shame. Whether it is because you thought that you could have done better or someone hurt you. God is here to restore you and bless you abundantly. You're gonna make it through this. Let your situation rest at His feet. There will be a day when your strength is greater than your struggle, a day when you look back and you all of those things that held you back, the season of your life where you never thought you would make it. You did, because God's grace made a way when you couldn't.
[17:07] Your story is still being written and the valleys did not keep you from the rest of the journey that awaits you. So on those days where you feel like progress is really slow, slow down and recall all of the things that you did work through. Maybe it was conversations with your spouse or with your coworker, with your children, with your enemies, and cherish those moments. Your story is still in progress, even through the toughest moments of the process. This is a process that builds your strength through your struggle. Trust Jesus. The fight for freedom is the fight that builds your faith.
[17:57] Perhaps you're asking yourself, how will I overcome this? And your heart feels dry and tears are running down your face. How will I know that God is in control? I'm glad you asked. You will recognize that God is in control. You look at Philippians 4:6-7, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, present your request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. And the next time that you start to feel anxious, I challenge you to just start giving thanks to God, Thank You for past things that I've been through.
[18:49] Thank You that You're with me now. Thank You that You are my strength. And I guarantee you that that anxiety diminishes because gratitude and anxiety cannot coexist. The hurt that you experienced that was out of your control does not have the power to keep you from being whole. So look ahead and trust, trust that you are still worthy of love. 1 John 4:8, trust that love is greater than fear. 1 John 4:18, whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. And this verse emphasizes that God is not just a characteristic of God, but He is the very essence of who He is.
[19:44] So working through the pain is anything but easy. But day by day, month by month and year by year, it becomes more and more possible through God. People change, seasons change and your perspectives change too. But when you start to move forward, you start to see where your strength comes from, you start to see a way through. So through your new found strength, remember this, the struggle is real, but it's not permanent. So one of the ministries that we've been working with, the past few years is with women who've been incarcerated.
[20:31] And this past Christmas we had the opportunity to go into the women's center, women's and youth center in MHI with Pastor Sam, who's the campus pastor in the MHI. And we went up and we had an opportunity to do five Christmas services with them up there. And so it was a really exciting day. And the women here in the church, we got together and we packed up 150 gifts to bring to them. And there it is, just God is really moving there. And that's a huge redemption story of itself. But, and to also since November there's been 29 baptisms in the prison there. It's just phenomenal.
[21:23] So as we were waiting, I got talking to the prison chaplain there. And turns out that our paths have crossed actually a long time ago, that she's originally from Romania, the same place where my parents smuggled Bibles so long ago. And she became a Christian by reading her parent, her parents' Bible, that that missionaries had actually brought them. And we just thought that that was just so amazing that you think like the disappointments and all these questions that you have for God. And He's always got something so beautiful lined up.
[22:09] So just in closing, I'm gonna read a poem that we have, that I got from our grief support group, and it's called The Tapestry. My life is but a weaving between my God and me. I cannot choose the colors He worketh steadily. Oft times He weaves sorrow. And I, in foolish pride, forget He sees the upper and I the ugly underside. Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly, will God unroll this beautiful canvas and reveal the reason why the dark threads are needful in the skillful hand, the weaver's skillful hand as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern that He has planned.
[23:12] He knows, He cares. He loves nothing that truth condemns. He gives the very best to those who leave the choice to Him. And that was written by Corrie ten Boom. And her family helped many, many Jews escape the Nazis during the Holocaust and the Second World War. And they were imprisoned for for quite some time for helping them. And she shares in her books about the struggles that they go through, but that what kept them going was the hope of God. So just in closing, I'm gonna invite you to stand if you're able to, and I'm just gonna invite you just to put your arms forward in an upward position and just take a posture of surrender.
[24:18] And I'm just gonna pray. Holy Spirit, we breathe You in. We thank You, Jesus, that You are here with us. Lord, we rest in knowing that You are in control, Lord. And if we have been holding back any shame, things that have happened to us, hurts, maybe something that we've done, Lord, today, we leave this at Your feet in exchange for the offer of redemption that You have for our lives, that today, 1st of June, 2025, we lock that door and throw away the key.
[25:18] Lord Jesus, I thank You for Your healing power. I thank You that You are working in this room and online today. Lord, I thank You for Your freedom that we are able to walk into. In Your name, amen.