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The Test
Selected Scripture
I have a
theory. It's untested. I haven't read about it anywhere and other than
my own observations I don't have any scientific evidence to prove it.
Let me run it by you to see what you think.
Do you remember what it felt like to be in Junior High? That'll be easy
for some of you because you are there now. Others have Jr. Hi kids or
you teach them in school, so it's not a big stretch for you either. Some
of us, though, are a lot of years away from that time in our lives. You
do well to remember what it felt like to be 50! So let me flesh it out a
bit to stir your memories.
When you are in Jr. Hi, every day you wake up to the same test. By
"test" I don't mean an instrument designed to measure the knowledge you
have mastered or the facts you have memorized. This test isn't the kind
for which you get a letter grade. But believe me, you are graded.
It's a social test. Not a Social Studies test. Just a social test. And
it has only four questions. The questions are true or false. But they
are mercilessly difficult. They are coldly objective and brutally
direct. And no matter how well you did on Monday, you have to take the
same test on Tuesday. And the answers are always changing. A word here
to my Jr. Hi listeners. It's possible that you could be offended by
something I say in the next seven or eight minutes. Before you get
offended, listen all the way through. Even if you're a little
uncomfortable with how I say these things, I think you'll feel good
about the affirmation I give you in the end. Ready?
Question 1) I am noticed.
This is a crucial question. Because if I am not noticed, if I have to
answer false to this one, then I am invisible. I may be sucking oxygen
and taking up space, but if no one notices me I am a nobody; a zero. I
may as well not exist.
So Jr. Hi students will do all kinds of crazy things to be noticed.
They'll dress in weird ways and say goofy things and behave obnoxiously,
all so they can circle true to question number one.
I read about a psychiatrist who was working with an eighth grader. The
boy had badly burned his upper lip. The doctor asked, "So, how did you
bum your lip?"
The kid said, "I liked a light bulb."
The doctor asked, "Why did you lick a light bulb?" The kid said,
"Because I'd never done that before."
The doctor accepted that answer. I don't.
I'll tell you the rest of the answer. "I licked the light bulb because
all my buddies were standing around and I'd tried everything else, so I
thought, 'Hey, I know, I’ll lick the light bulb and they'll notice me.”
So he did. He got second degree burns, a trip to the hospital and
plastic surgery, but so what. He got to answer "true" to number one.
The number one question kids ask is "Did you see me?" They'll act tough
or tender, they'll weep like it's a funeral or cavort like clowns at the
circus, they'll pretend to be stud athletes or strut like movie
starlet’s, they'll dress like the latest musical sensation, all for the
purpose of getting number one right; True. I am noticed.
But it isn't enough to be noticed. Because even if you can circle true
on number one, question number 2 pops up on the screen.
Question 2) I am accepted.
When I was in High School there was a kid named Jimmy Maddox. We noticed
Jimmy, all right, so he passed question number one. But we noticed him
because he looked funny and had a nasally voice and wore strange clothes
which hung loosely on his oddly shaped frame.
We noticed Jimmy but we never accepted him. He was never welcome in the
group unless it was to make fun of him. Then, when the fun was over,
we'd send him back to his place.
Jimmy had to put false by number 2. And he didn't last long at our
church. I don't know how he fared in his new church, but he failed at
ours. Or we failed him. But even if Jimmy had passed question number 2
on the test, he wouldn't have been finished. Because it isn't enough to
be accepted. Question number three demands an answer.
Question 3) I am valued.
Acceptance is one rung up from tolerance. And who wants to settle for
just being tolerated? It isn't enough for the circle to open up and let
you in. There are kinds of bogus ways to answer true to number 2.
Maybe you are just part of a package because a friend of yours is
accepted and you ride in on her coat tails. Maybe you have rich or
powerful parents or a really cool older sibling or maybe they are just
afraid of you or feel sorry for you.
So question number three is really personal: it demands to know, Am I
valued? Do I make a contribution? Am I accepted because of who I am? Do
they really want me? Or is my acceptance in the circle an accident of
fate? Is it real or just a favor?
But there's one question more. Even if you answer true to numbers 1 - 3
every morning, question number four always appears at the end of the
test. And it can annul and render void every other true answer you
write. Because if you put false by this one, you fail the test.
Question 4) I am loved.
It matters very little how noticed, accepted or valued you are. Because
you can always make a mistake. You can blow it.
And if you are only noticed for some conspicuous feature of your life,
if you are only accepted because of who you know or how you are
connected, if you are valued only for what you can contribute, your
membership inside the circle is still temporary. It's only when they
love you that you are safe. Because if they love you, you can stop
worrying about being noticed.
You don't have to fight for acceptance. You don't have to hit a home run
or sing the perfect solo or play your part like a Broadway star. Because
if you are loved, you've got lots of room for mistakes. In fact, if all
you do is suck oxygen and take up space, you are still safe, because
love makes you safe.
Okay, that's what it's like to be in Jr. Hi. Every day, the same test.
Now, here's my theory. Ready?
We never graduate from Jr. Hi.
Never. Okay, I told you Jr. Hi guys that I'd say something affirming.
Here it is. You guys are a lot more honest about this test than we
adults are. See, the older you get, the longer you've played this game,
the less likely you are to realize that's what you're doing. You guys
act strange and you know it. We adults act strange and we call it
normal.
Here's what I mean. Right now some of us grown ups are going, "Speak for
yourself, buddy, I'm way past Jr. Hi." Maybe you are. They say preaching
is just working out your own stuff in front of a crowd. So maybe it's
just me.
But look at it this way. You left Jr. High school and went on to get
your high school diploma and then your under graduate degree. Maybe you
went on to graduate school and got a masters. Then you went all the way
and got the Ph.D. So do you make sure people know you did all that?
Is it important that they call you Dr. so and so?
For many of us, all those letters after our names and all those academic
accomplishments on our resumes are just another way of asking, "Did you
see me? I am noticed."
We do the same thing with question number 2 I am accepted.
Grown ups have circles they want to be accepted in. So we pay attention
to the clothes we wear and the cars we drive and the neighborhoods we
live in. If we can't have money we at least want to have the appearance
of it. We fret about our weight, we go to great lengths to give the
appearance of having hair, we get our tummies tucked, our wrinkles
stretched, our muscles toned, our bodies tanned and our physiological
inadequacies ... enhanced.
And we want to be valued, question number 3 on the test.
It isn't enough for us to just be a part of the circle. Every now and
then we want to be in the center of it. We want people to appreciate us
for the contributions we have made. We don't need to be MVP every
season. Every other season or two would be adequate. We want to be
valued.
But none of that matters if we aren't loved, question 4. We'll do all
kinds of things to feel loved. Sometimes we'll even hurt the people
closest to us if they don't make us feel loved. We'll put extraordinary
expectations on them, make unreasonable demands and sometimes violate
the very eternal laws of God so that we can feel loved. Why do you think
people have affairs?
Now you need to understand, I'm not criticizing or condemning you for
wanting to be noticed, accepted, valued and loved. I don't think those
are bad things. I think those are human things, whether you're two or
twelve or twenty or a hundred years old.
Tonight’s message has only one point; the test has already been taken.
Question 1) I am noticed.
True: Psalm 33:13 - 15, 18.
The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from
where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the
earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their
deeds.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope
in his steadfast love,
Were you to ask him, "Did you see me?" He'd say, "Yes. I always see
you." And that's not a threat. It's a promise, that our God lovingly
looks after us. .
Question 2) I am accepted.
True: Zephaniah 3: 17.
"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he
will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he
will exult over you with loud singing."
Question 3) I am valued.
True: Isaiah 43 :4.
"Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I
give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life."
And Romans 8: 31 - 32.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can beŁ
against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,
how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Question 4) I am loved.
True: John 3:16.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. "
The test has already been taken and you passed. In fact, you didn't even
have to take it. And because the test was taken some pretty amazing
things can happen. The test was It was taken for you a long time ago,
in a far away country, on a hill shaped like a skull, by a man you've
never met. But he noticed you. He accepted you. He valued you. He loved
you. You personally. You specifically. Jesus died on a cross to take
your test.
If you ever feel invisible, look at the cross. You'll see him noticing
you. If you ever feel rejected, look at the cross. You'll see him
accepting you. If you ever feel worthless, look at the cross. You'll see
the value he placed on your life. If you ever feel unloved, look at the
cross. Even then, even there he was loving you. He loves you still. He
will always love you.
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