Montgomery Hills Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD July 9, 2006
If what you expect to receive and what someone wants to give you are not the same thing, you are doomed to disappointment. If you want a particular thing, but the person you are dealing with is determined that you shall have something else, it is going to be tough. I well remember the Christmas when my brother grew up; every year he had torn into his gifts under the Christmas tree, and every year there had been toys and other goodies. But this year he was almost twelve, and this year every gift was a shirt, socks, pajamas, so-called useful stuff. I can still see the disappointment written all over his face. What he expected to receive and what others wanted him to have were not the same thing, and he was disappointed.
You are shopping. You go into the store, with your mind made up that the item that was on sale is what you want. But when you get there, the clerk says, “We have something much better. You don’t want that flimsy little nothing. You want this – it’s much better, and just a little more expensive.” So you can either insist on having the cheapie you came for; or you can listen to the sales clerk, who you know is trying to bait and switch, but who really might have a point about how much better this pricier thing is. What we expect to receive and what someone wants us to have are not the same thing, and we are disappointed. But sometimes they are right. Sometimes what we want is not what we really need.
Our spiritual lives are like that. What God wants to give us is not always what we think we want. What God wants to give us and what we suppose we want are often not the same thing. For God wants to give us meaning, direction, and purpose in life. God wants to give us a place in His Kingdom. But what do we want? We want something for ourselves. We want satisfaction, we want excitement, we want thrills. We go to church looking for a spiritual rush, for a buzz, but what the Lord wants to give us is an assignment. We’re disappointed in our worship experiences. Why? Because what we expect to receive and what God wants us to have are not the same thing. Yet which is better for us? Our desires or God’s plan?
The young prophet Isaiah went to the Temple, looking for something. It was a time of upheaval, and so he was looking for assurance that in such a time, everything would be all right. He was asking for a word of hope that, as old king Uzziah had died and there was uncertainty on the horizon, his precious Lord would hold his hand, lead him on, lift him up, and let him stand. If you are tired and weak and worn, that may be what you think you need. But Isaiah got a lot more than that. Isaiah got a life assignment out of his visit to the Temple:
Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Those were the Lord’s great questions, and to them Isaiah responded, “Here am I, send me.” So far, so good. But keep on listening, for Isaiah’s assignment was to do something impossible; Isaiah was to take on something that could not be done. Isaiah was to preach to a people who would not listen and teach a people who would not learn. Isaiah was to dream an impossible dream. What a strange thing the Lord said to the young prophet:
“I said, ‘Here am I: send me.’ And he said, ‘Go and say to this people: “Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.” Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes”
That’s pretty dismal business, isn’t it? To know that you are going to give yourself to something impossible. Isaiah, go preach to people who will not listen, teach people who will not learn. Push that rock up the hill only to have it roll down again. Fill that reservoir only to have everything leak out. Tilt against the windmill. Isaiah had to face it. Not only did he himself get something he didn’t expect when he went to the Temple, now he finds out that no one is going to want what God wants him offer them. Isaiah is supposed to keep on keeping on, talking to folks who don’t hear him and working with people who don’t want to be worked with. Impossible! Who would want to do that?!
But Isaiah accepted that assignment and became available for impossible dreams. What had happened with Isaiah to make him available for an incredibly exhausting assignment, fraught with disappointment?
I
First of all, Isaiah worshiped. And when he worshipped, it changed him. Isaiah went to the Temple with an honest heart, looking for something that would serve his needs, and he found it, but he found a whole lot more as well. When Isaiah went to worship, there he heard and saw the presence of God, perfect in power and in majesty. Awesome. And this glimpse of God changed the young prophet forever. True worship will do exactly that.
There is something almost obscene about our announcing that we will worship God every Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m., as if we expect God to show up on our timetable. We trickle in, we greet one another, we sing and make announcements and somebody stands to read the Bible and speak – all well and good. But it is not true that some of us have given up on God arriving in power? Is it not true that we have long since written off the expectation that God will do something extraordinary in our worship?
Some Christians treat worship in such a haphazard manner that it is obvious they don’t think much will happen. Some come when they feel like it, and don’t come when there is the least inconvenience. When we come, we may arrive late and hope we can leave early. And while we are here, we sing listlessly, we use the prayer times for mentally writing our shopping lists, and when the preacher gets up, we look at our watches and hope he will not be long-winded! Got to get to Ruby Tuesday’s before the Methodists do! We really don’t expect God to show up!
But then, on the other hand, other Christians act as though they could MAKE God show up. Some churches whip up the troops to a frenzy, singing “Kum ba yah” fifty-leven times, “amening” everything in a frantic effort to stir up excitement. But that too says we don’t expect God to show up on His own. We act as though we need to get God’s attention, as if we were cheering for the home team!
Oh, brothers and sisters, what God wants to give us is a glimpse of Himself. What God wants to give us is a sense of His power and love and mercy. What God wants us to have is that breathtaking insight that makes us cry out spontaneously, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of His glory.” What God wants to give us is a driving energy down deep inside. But we have settled either for dull mumbling and lounging around the sanctuary, or for manufactured excitement and cheerleader-induced energy, neither of which is worship. We have missed what God wants to give us. And we are disappointed. But when you worship – when you expect God’s presence and look for Him – impossible things begin to happen.
This past Sunday, our pastor offered a quiet time for personal prayer during the Communion service, a time of silence. During those silent moments my wife prayed something she had not prayed before; because her mother had suffered so long with mini-strokes and other illnesses, Margaret prayed that the Lord would take her mother home, quietly and quickly. We went home, and within five minutes of our getting there, Margaret’s sister called, announcing that their mother had passed away some time between 11:00 a.m. and noon that day! Do not try to tell us that prayer does not change things! Do not call that coincidence! Call that worship that takes the impossible and makes it possible. Call that worship in which God shapes us to accomplish impossible dreams.
The young Isaiah worshiped, truly worshiped, and become available for impossible dreams.
II
Now notice that at the end of the worship experience, when Isaiah became available, God gave him marching orders. God sent him our, God moved him out of his comfort zone. Isaiah heard the Lord say, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
And what was Isaiah’s response? “Here I am, but I want to do it at home”? How about, “Here I am, but let me pick and choose what I’d like to do”? Or maybe, “Here I am, send me, but send me only to nice people who already think like I do.”? Not on your life. Isaiah cried out, with total openness, with no conditions, “Here I am. Send me.” Send me wherever you want me to go. Send me to whatever you want me to do. Send me, O Lord. I am available.
If there is before you an impossible dream; if your life vision contains an insurmountable obstacle, then be open to anything and everything God wants you to do. Nothing else will satisfy.
A friend of mine likes to tell the story about preaching in a little country church. It was a warm summer Sunday, so one of the ushers went to sleep during the sermon. When my friend finished preaching and they sang the invitation hymn, the sleeping usher woke up and thought it was the doxology they were singing, so he grabbed up an offering plate and marched down the aisle. When the invitation hymn closed, there he was, alone with the pastor, standing at the front of the church. The pastor was a bit puzzled, and asked the usher, “Sir, what is your decision? Why have you come forward?” The old boy realized what he had done, thought a moment, and then said, “Well, I’ve already joined the church, I’m too old to go as a missionary, so I guess I’ll just have to rededicate my life to Christ.”
But isn’t that the index of our problem? We don’t know what to do with ourselves when we encounter the Lord and His claims. We’ve been asleep, and we’ve awakened to the fact that we ought to be doing something unique for the Kingdom. But we haven’t turned loose our imaginations. We haven’t been available for impossible dreams. We’ve edited down our visions to pygmy size. Comfortable dreams.
I don’t know about you, but I have to confess that at this time in my life, I am not very keen on being sent just anywhere. I am not very excited about going outside my old boundaries. I have to confess I think in much too narrow boundaries. Something in me tempts me to be comfortable and to flow toward what satisfies me. I am getting deaf to the call to be sent out into an unfriendly, unreceptive, impossible world.
But as soon as Isaiah told the Lord he was available, the Lord said He would send out this eager young man, but that he would send him to speak to a people who would not hear and to lead a people who would not see. That’s hard for me to get into! How about you?
We as a church have moved a long way toward using our freedom and our energies to make use of the gifts and interests we have in this congregation. One of the things that attracted my wife and me here was the list of ministries in which members can get involved. Good stuff.
But, in all candor, when I read the list of ministries, there is not much here that challenges us to do the impossible. There is not a whole lot that sends us out beyond our comfort zone and pushes us to preach to those who will not listen and teach those who will not learn. Much of what we are doing is self-maintenance. It is keeping the wheels turning. And again, that’s fine. That all needs to happen. I would not dismantle anything that we are now doing.
But, as a relatively new member, and as one who is more part of the problem than part of the answer, I want to challenge us to dream impossible dreams. I want to challenge us to hear God’s call to be sent out into the dim and dark places where people suffer. It does not matter that much of what we might do will not be well-received. God’s work has always been the province of a minority. It matters only that we get outside the comfort zone and become available for the impossible dream of redeeming somebody through Christ.
Isaiah worshiped God. And then Isaiah made himself available to be sent to do impossible things. Isaiah dreamed the impossible dream. So can you. So can I. So can our church.
III
What are the impossible dreams for Montgomery Hills Baptist Church? What might we undertake, knowing it may not be popular, and knowing we could not do it without God’s power? Just a few things, with a disclaimer: nothing I am about to say is official. I have checked nothing out with the pastor, so do not think I am speaking as his mouthpiece. I am on my own, as a member, like you, of this congregation, reflecting on my experience here. And a further disclaimer: nothing that I am saying is a criticism – not of the church, not of the pastor, not of the leadership. I bring no negatives with me. My wife and I are very happy with our participation at Montgomery Hills. I bring only ideas – dreams, I call them – for our future. Impossible dreams – but we can be available for impossible dreams if we worship God and expect Him to move among us and send us beyond our comfort zones.
A
First, I dream of a church which truly wants to reach people for Christ. I dream of a church which has a strategy for outreach, just as it has a strategy for teaching or pastoral care or worship, and all the rest. I know that evangelism has a bad name because of some of its more extreme practitioners; I know that in this county there are thousands of folks who turn you off the instant you even so much as mention the name of Christ. But we are not called to be popular; we are called to be faithful, and to name the name which is above every name. Reaching people in large numbers in this community is an impossible dream, but Montgomery Hills can be available for that impossible dream.
B
Then, as well, I dream of our being a church which contributes to family life in this community. I dream of our being truly open and welcoming and attractive for children and youth. There are some good things happening already – Sunday School and choir and Bible School and the library reading sessions and Friday night youth group. But dream about what it might mean if we could get connected with the local schools, if we could connect with juvenile authorities and do something for troubled youth. A Methodist church not far from here provides a ministry for high school students who have been suspended for misbehavior. I’m sure that’s not an easy ministry and that many of the kids don’t want what the church folks have to give. But it’s ministry that will make a difference. Will somebody dream of our church as a place that takes on at-risk children and youth? An impossible dream?
C
I dream about this church reaching people; I dream about ministry with children and youth; and I also dream about a mission of compassion for those whose cases seem hopeless. I dream about our being able, as a church, to bring hope to the last, the least, the lost, and the lonely. This is the most impossible dream of all – that we might become a place and a people for God’s redemptive power among those whose problems run so deep that there seems to be no hope.
I’ve been working for several years now with a young man who has been in and out of prison several times. I’ll spare you his case history, but it isn’t pretty. It’s disappointing. One might even say it is impossible. We’ve tried to help in a variety of ways, but we get frustrated. One rainy Saturday evening he called from the homeless shelter and said he needed a certain size pair of shoes so that he could get to his restaurant job on Sunday morning, or else he would lose the job. He wanted me to bring him $100.00. I told him I wouldn’t do that, but I thought my son-in-law had shoes that would fit. Because I was preparing a sermon for the next day, Margaret volunteered to drive all the way out to Gaithersburg and bring back the shoes, and we made arrangements to meet this young man later that night. He never showed up, and the next thing I knew he had lost the job, he had been picked up for parole violation, and had been put back in jail. Sounds like an impossible case, doesn’t it? Well, now he is coming back out in about two more weeks; he will need a place to live, a job to support himself, clothes to wear, on and on. Let me tell you, it is hard to find anybody available for such an impossible case. – churches or social agencies or government offices. And he is only one of thousands who will go right back into the system unless somebody helps them. Folks who have been in prison may not be good pew-sitters, but nevertheless they are men and women for whom Christ died. I dream of a church that will minister to those whose cases seem hopeless, the last, the least, the lost, and the lonely.
The old usher may have been right. “Already joined the church, too old to go as a missionary, I guess I’ll just have to rededicate my life to Christ.” Are we at our church available for impossible dreams? Have we so worshiped the living God that He has changed us from the inside out? Have we understood that we are to be sent out beyond ourselves? Are we available for impossible dreams”?
Oh, to dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to bear with unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not go. Though the goal be forever too far, to try, though you’re wayworn and weary, to reach the unreachable star, though you know it’s impossibly high. To live with your heart striving upward, to a far, unattainable sky. Let this be your quest, to follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far, to fight for the right, without question or pause, to be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.
If it works for the man of La Mancha; if it works for a sleepy usher; if it works for Isaiah, it ought to work for us. Brothers and sisters of Montgomery Hills Baptist Church, are we available for God’s impossible dreams?
