THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD
In the church we have many clichés and buzzwords. We have used these phrases so often they have become commonplace. They still have their intellectual meaning, but they have lost their psychological impact.
If you have been in the church for any time at all, you have heard the phrase: “The Plan of God.” You have heard people say that God has a marvelous plan for your life. You have heard sermons about “God’s Plan of Salvation” or “God’s Plan of Redemption.” We all believe that God has a hand in human history. However, we often think of the plan of God as some inevitable outcome that has very little to do with human involvement.
I would like for us to think of God’s plan more in terms of a vision, a dream, a desire, a burning of the heart, a yearning, a passion.
I. ADAM AND EVE.
This yearning of God goes back to the beginning of time. After Adam and Eve, had set the human race on a course of sin, death and corruption, God said to the serpent:
I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel (Gen.3:15).
I like the way the Living Bible puts it.
“From now on you and the woman will be enemies, as will your offspring and hers. You will strike his heel, but he [the coming Messiah] will crush your head."
God has a passion, a yearning. He wants to crush the head of Satan. He wants to end, the satanic veil of deceit that has fallen over the human race.
II. ABRAHAM.
He called a man named Abram, later to become Abraham, to be an instrument in the fulfillment of His yearning.
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
"Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth
shall be blessed." (Gen.12:1-3).
The abruptness of this command amazes me. “Get out” …”Go” …Leave” …He offers no alluring motivations or lengthy explanations. When a person has committed him or herself to the Lordship of God and is convinced that the call has come from the Lord, there is no necessity to cajole or entice. Like Abraham, the response is immediate—“So Abraham departed.”
“Get out, go, leave,” the Lord told him.
We might paraphrase this command today in this fashion: “Go, get out, leave! Leave the comfort and security of . . .
Your country,
Your family
Your father’s house,
Your cousins and uncles,
Grandma and grandpa,
Your smooth roads,
Your huge shopping malls,
Your McDonalds,
Your Pizza Hut,
Your Satellite TV with 400 channels,
Your showers with water pressure,
Your microwave ovens,
Your efficient mail delivery system,
Your honest police officers,
Your democratic political systems,
Your lucrative business opportunities,
Your plush carpets,
Your padded pews,
Your multimillion dollar building projects,
Get out!
Leave it!
Go!
“To a land that I will show you. Because I have a yearning for the world”
I find it interesting that God did not tell Abraham about all the trials that he would face. He didn’t tell him about the long trip through scorching deserts. He didn’t mention the resistance he would face from the kings of Canaan (who were not too receptive to the notion that God had given their land to a foreigner they had never heard of before). Nor did he tell him about the greed and selfishness of his nephew Lot, whom he had raised as his own son. Nor did he tell him about how long this land-showing would take!
We learn an important principle here about the yearning of God. The yearning of God requires the cooperation of men. The passion of God, if it is to come to fruition, requires that men become His willing instruments in its fulfillment.
But God does not leave Abraham without a promise of blessing. He says, “I will bless you …”
There is blessing in getting out.
There is privilege attached to God’s plan.
There is gain in going.
“I will be with you, even to the end of the world.” The blessing of His presence is a reality experienced by all who have gone.
I will make you a great nation. This was the ultimate dream of all men of the patriarchal age. To have many children and to one day be called: The father of our nation. Wow! What a promise! What a privilege!
In the movie, “Apollo 13," as the astronauts are saying their farewells before entering the space module, some reporters ask the commander, Jim Lovell, what he thinks his next space mission will be. He responds by saying there will be no more missions for him. Confused, the reporters ask: “But why would you say that?” Lovell responds, “When I have walked on the moon, I will have reached the pinnacle of space travel. What more could I possibly want?”
Abraham must have felt the same way. After becoming the Patriarchal Father of an entire nation, what more could he possibly want? That’s it! Mission accomplished. But God also told him: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
He was saying to Abraham: “I don’t want you to misunderstand. This is not a blessing just for you. Nor is it a blessing just for the nation that will derive from your loins. My purpose here is not that you become wealthy and famous. I have a purpose that extends far beyond you and yours.”
Brethren, we too must get this message into our heads and hearts. God has a purpose that extends far beyond me and mine and far beyond you and yours. Oh, how short sighted we can be! We get so wrapped up in our programs …
whether or not they meet our needs,
whether or not we should install that new carpet,
whether it should be blue or brown,
because blue shows dirt more,
whether we should use choruses or hymns,
whether we should have grilled chicken or a fish fry for this year’s fellowship dinner.
We forget that there are millions of souls, precious in the sight of God, who will die in their sins today, because someone has not taken the time or effort to get out of his own country and tell them about Jesus!
Yes, God has a yearning, a longing, a project long overdue . . .
III. ISRAEL
Abraham did become the Father of a nation. The nation of Israel was born. It grew and prospered and spread itself out like a healthy vine.
Would God’s yearning finally be fulfilled? When He gazed down upon this nation which He had called to be a light to the rest of the world, would he see that light shining brightly and drawing all peoples unto Himself?
Well, let’s move up several hundred years to the time of King Uzziah, to Isaiah, Chapter 9. The scholars tell us it was a time of great prosperity in Judah. Modern analysts would honor Uzziah as a great political and military leader.
Yet, as God looked upon His chosen people, did He find the nations gathering around her to receive His blessing? What did He find in the towns and villages nearest to His Israel and Judah? What did He see in the land of Zebulum and the land of Naphtali, in Galilee of the Gentiles? Did he find the increase of joy and the reign of holiness?
I’m afraid not. Isaiah tells us that instead of finding His blessing flowing out from His people to the hurting world around them, He only found gloom, distress, oppression, darkness and death. No. It was obvious that, by the year 700 B.c., the nation of Judah would not fulfill God’s yearning.
Nevertheless, God gave the world a sign. A Child would be born and He would be called . . .
Wonderful,
Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace . . .
Yes, God would send His only Son to bring about the fulfillment of His yearning for this miserable world.
Isaiah finished this brief but potent Messianic prophecy, with these words: “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” The Living Bible interprets this verse . . .
“He will bring true justice and peace to all the nations of the world. This is going to happen because the Lord of heaven’s armies has dedicated himself to do it!”
Perhaps the word “zeal” expresses it best. “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it.” God has a yearning, a zeal, an eagerness, an enthusiasm, a fervor, a determination, an earnestness. We might even say He has a hunger to see His blessing flow to all the world. This is the heartbeat of God!
IV. JESUS.
Oh, what a glorious day when that Child came. You can just see the angelic hosts of heaven on the tips of their toes as they gaze upon this world in awestruck expectation. How can this be! This is unheard of, unprecedented. There are no words to describe the dimensions of their wonderment. They must have been utterly astonished that the Creator God would lower Himself to become a man, entering into the world through the womb of a young maiden like every other man. That He would expose Himself to the treachery and scorn of mankind. How can this be! Oh what a yearning He has for the world! This is the heartbeat of God!
This was just the beginning of their amazement and wonder. What did they think as they watched men spit on Him, beat Him and ridicule Him? What were they thinking as men drove the jagged nails into His flesh? What a price He paid to see His yearning come to fruition!
“Surely this is it,” the angels must have thought. Surely He will give the word and, with one swift stroke of righteous indignation, they would put an end to this nightmare.
V. THE EARLY CHURCH
But that’s not what happened. What God did at that point seems even more bizarre to our way of thinking than anything He had thus far done in His efforts to fulfill His yearning for the world.
Instead of calling down the armies of heaven,
Instead of blowing his celestial whistle and saying, “All right, everybody out of the pool.”
Instead of flashing a cosmic display across the heavens that read: “This is it folks, I gave My very life for your sins, take it, or leave it, you’ve got ‘til midnight to decide.”
Instead of giving His angelic hosts the marching orders: “OK, I want you to spread out over the entire planet and announce to all peoples what I have done for them.”
Instead of that, he turned His plan over to a group of weak, often inconsistent and at times faithless men.
“Go and make disciples in all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this—that I am with you always, even to the end of the world." (28:18-20).
Again we hear the echo of God’s yearning and of that command that He gave to Abraham so many centuries before. Go! Get out! Leave! There’s a world out there that I yearn to win back to My heart. There’s a world that I want to bless, a world that I earnestly desire and have given My life to win. Yes, it is a world that is undeserving, faithless and treacherous, but a world, nevertheless, full of people who are worth being saved. “I am command you to go.”
And the early church responded. . . . As a result of the boldness of their public stand for Christ, three thousand were baptized in Jerusalem. When the church was scattered as a result of persecution, Luke tells us that they “went everywhere preaching the word.” Philip jumped into a chariot with a high official from Africa and shared with him the good news of Jesus. Peter takes the gospel outside the confines of his own group, the Jewish people, enters into a Gentile home and preaches the good news about Jesus. And when the Lord got hold of Paul, there was no stopping him. He took the gospel and preached it to all the major cities and provinces of the ancient world, including the center of the empire, Rome itself.
VI. THE MODERN CHURCH
But somewhere along the line of history, we lost track of our purpose. Like Israel,
we were blessed,
we became prosperous,
we settled in,
we huddled up,
we slowed down,
we took it easy,
we got comfortable.
We became more concerned with saving face, than saving souls. We became organized, systematized, anesthetized, domesticated. That impulsive eruption of missionary zeal no longer characterizes our churches.
It is a rare occasion when Christians ponder the missionary task, let alone engage themselves in it. Our missionaries are out of sight and out of mind. We are more concerned today with whether or not someone remembered to turn up the thermostat, than we are with the people who will burn in the eternal fires. We are more concerned with providing funds for the new parking lot, than we are about whether or not our missionary programs are adequately financed. We attend self-help seminars to build up our self-confidence and self-esteem and fill our self-centered and self-seeking needs.
But the yearning of God continues. The heart of God continues to beat for the nations. His vision has not diminished. He has not relinquished His purpose. He is still saying to you and to me: “Go, get up, get out, get going.!”
And He has given us a promise:
“I will be with you, always, EVEN to the end of the world.”
“I will be with you, ALWAYS, even to the end of the world.”
“I will be with YOU, always, even to the end of the world.”
“I WILL be with you, always, even to the end of the world.”
To the church that commits itself to missions He says: “I will be with you.”
To the church that determines to get in tune with the heartbeat of God, He says: “I will be with you. You will experience My presence in power and in reality.”
To the church that puts its missionary budget before all other needs, He says: “I will be with you . . .”
To the Christian who gives eagerly and faithfully to the missionary program, He says, “I will be with you.”
To those who pray fervently and faithfully for their missionaries, He says: “I will be with you.”
To the parents that teach their children to pray for their missionaries, He says: “I will be with you.”
To those who go, He says, “I will be with you.”
We find a clear expression of the yearning of God in Revelation 7:9-10.
"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ’Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’"
This is the heartbeat of God! This is what He longs for: to gather His people from all corners of the world, into a holy and blessed fellowship with Himself.
CONCLUSION
Now that you have read this message, take a moment to reflect on how you will respond to the yearning of God? How will you contribute to the longing of God becoming a reality? Does your heart beat in tune with the heartbeat of God? Ask yourself the question: “How deep and fulfilling can my fellowship with God be, if I do not share His passion for the world?
The church historian Gustav Warneck, did extensive research on the great missionary movements that have at times propelled the church into world-wide growth. Commenting on the men and women that have been the protagonists of these movements, he says that “all felt the mighty impulse to venture something real for God.” Do you feel that mighty impulse to do something real for God?
Go.
Get up.
Get going.
Do something about it!”
