Sermon Central
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Fearless Campaign Week 6 Series
Contributed by Brian Harrell on Nov 6, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: The last week of Max Lucado’s Fearless Campaign based on his book. This week we let Jesus out of His box. We like the tame and cuddly Jesus but at His transfiguration Jesus shows that He is the ferocious God.
Fearless #6 Fear of God getting out of my box
This is our last week in this series that we call “fearless.” We have been trying to take of the bullies of life, those things that cause us to cower in a corner, those things that make us want to take a different path, and those things that just scare us to death.
Jesus never envisioned a church full of cowards. He never planned that his church would be full of people who were afraid to take on the great challenges, who always needed safety, and would need to be coddled, and would abandon the cause at the first sign of danger or discomfort.
Jesus was never afraid to walk anywhere and neither should we.
Jesus was never afraid to talk to anyone and neither should we.
Jesus was never afraid to take on anything and neither should we.
Jesus was never afraid to stand up when nobody else would and neither should we.
Jesus was never afraid to come to the rescue and neither should we.
Jesus was never afraid to love the sinner and neither should we.
Jesus was never afraid to pick a fight and neither should we.
Jesus wasn’t afraid of graveyards, prostitutes, tax collectors, the immoral, the powerful, the rich, the demon possessed, the sick, and neither should we.
God isn’t raising up cowards. The Holy Spirit isn’t urging you to play it safe.
One of the things I have heard over and over again in my life goes something like this; “I want to follow God but I’m afraid he’s going to send me out as a missionary to some African jungle.”
Or its something like this, I’ve had many conversations and prayer times with people who feel like they ought to be doing something more. One year later they come back and we pray the same prayer over again. Are you telling me that in a whole year there was not one opportunity, or one idea, or one dream that you couldn’t go out after? And so we pray about it again.
I call that the “tame God” or the “safe God” syndrome.
We want a safe God. We want to tame God. We want a God we can manage. One we can keep in the trunk of the car and pull him out whenever we need him. We want God we can control. We want a God who will bless us and be there when we need him but we are a little uncomfortable when Jesus asks us to walk on water!
We want enough of God to make us feel warm and cozy but not too much that he explodes our soul and turns our world upside down. We don’t want to be a missionary to Africa! He’s a asking too much! Its way out of bounds! It’s not what we signed up for. I like faith but not that much faith. I like adventure but not that much adventure. I think God’s great, but not that great!
Here’s what we’re going to work on today... One of my all time favorite verses…
Eph. 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Our problem with this verse isn’t everything God can do. We say amen to that!
The problem is stuck right in the middle of that verse… according to his power that is at work within us. The real problem seems to be how much of his power, how much of who God is has gripped us and set us free to see God’s great works happen around us.
Basically the bigger God is TO you and the bigger God is IN you the bolder we are in taking on the big assignments. A big understanding of God leads us to big expectations from God. A small working of God in us leads to only small things.
No wonder people are worried about becoming missionaries to Africa when their God and their experience of God and the power that is working in them is so small!
- We can’t even imagine God getting us to Africa
- Or learning the language
- Or how He will provide
- Or how He’ll make up for what we miss at home!
- AND SO WE KEEP GOD BOXED UP!
The verse seems to be saying that there is no limitation with God but there is a limitation with us. God is working according to how big he is inside of us. We seem to be the latest in a long line of Christ followers who seem to be unaware of the Glory, of the value, of the awesomeness of whom Jesus is. There certainly were a lot of people like that in the bible who were in the presence of the almighty God- standing right before them in the shape of Jesus- and they couldn’t even muster up enough faith to do anything.
