It is a long-standing custom in our society, when approaching the end of a year, to pause and reflect on the twelve months past. To think about what we’ve attempted, what we’ve achieved, what we’ve lost, what we’ve gained, what we’ve suffered, and hopefully, what we’ve learned from it all. It’s also a time to look forward to the future, to think about how we are going to better our lot in the year to come. How we intend to better ourselves, or improve our circumstances, or perhaps how we hope to make the world a better place before the next December 31st draws nigh.
This kind reflection is especially appropriate for us this morning, as we are not only completing a calendar year, but also our second year of worshiping together as a congregation. And looking back, we have much to give thanks for. He has provided everything we need. A place to worship. Financial resources to meet our expenses. Faithful, talented workers; people who, every Sunday morning show up to unload the trailer, and play the guitar, and run the sound board, and teach Sunday school, and care for children in the nursery, and do dozens of other things in service to Christ. Most of all, we give thanks for those who have come to know Christ more deeply, who have experienced His love, and comfort, and strength in a new way this year. Because that’s the main reason we began this journey in the first place. Yes, some of that spiritual growth has come through struggle and suffering. But God is faithful. And so we confess together with the Psalmist that "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. . . In faithfulness you have afflicted me" (Psalm 119:71, 75).
Having said all that, however, my focus today is not on what’s past, but on what’s to come. And the question I put to you this morning is this: not what changes do we expect to see in the coming year, but what changes do we want to see? What changes are we seeking after, and hoping for, and trusting God for? In other words, what does this church really need right now? We certainly don’t lack potential answers to that question. We need a new place to meet. We need money to meet our budget. We need to grow; we need more people. And we need workers; it wouldn’t hurt if some of those new folks could play the drums, or teach Sunday School, or lead a Bible study. But what we need most isn’t any of those things. It’s more fundamental. What we need, desperately, is for God to pour out His Spirit on this church, and upon us as His people. What we need is to see God’s power released in our church and in our lives. What we need is to see God do great and mighty things among us, things that only He can do, things that can’t be explained by anything other than the hand of God. We need to see His power convicting of sin, softening hardened hearts, granting repentance, reconciling relationships, opening minds to the gospel, releasing addicts from their addictions. We need to see God changing hearts and lives. Yours, and mine, and theirs -- the people outside our doors who are without Christ and without hope. And God can do it. I’m convinced that compared to what God can do in this church, all the blessings we’ve seen so far are just scratching the surface. They’re just a beginning, just the tip of the iceberg of what God’s power can accomplish.
Brothers and sisters, we can see dramatic growth in this church. We can see the gospel of Jesus Christ going out from here and spreading throughout this whole region, drawing unbelievers to Christ, transforming lives, restoring marriages and families. It’s not a fairy tale. It’s not a pipe dream. It can happen. But in order for that to happen, we have to make some changes ourselves. First, we have to change our attitude. We have to stop thinking that what we’ve experienced so far is all there is, that God has no intention of doing anything dramatic or powerful in our lives and in this church. We have to expand our vision. Listen to Paul’s warning in his letter to Timothy:
"… There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. " -- 2 Timothy 3:1-5
"Having a form of godliness, but denying its power." That’s unbelief. It’s so serious that Paul lumps it in with things like greed, and treachery, and slander. The danger is that we become practical atheists. Praying, but not expecting an answer. Singing songs about God’s mighty deeds, but not expecting him to act in our lives. Reading about all the wonderful things God did in days gone by, but not expecting him to work now. "Having a form of godliness" -- living a good life, going to church, reading the Bible, praying before meals -- but denying that it has any real power. And that’s the same as denying the gospel. Why? Because that’s what the gospel is about -- power! It’s not about intellectual enlightenment, it’s not about morality, it’s not about doing good works. It’s about God’s power to overcome all the works of the devil and all the effects of man’s sin; it’s about the power that God displayed in raising his Son, Jesus Christ from the dead; the same power that will raise us from the dead; the power that even now is working in us, and through us:
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." -- 1 Corinthians 4:20
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." -- Romans 1:16
"[O]ur gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. -- 1 Thessalonians 1:5
The New Testament is filled with references to Christians experiencing God’s power. Is that the kind of life you’re familiar with? You say, "But look at us. We don’t have a building. We don’t have a lot of people. We don’t have much money. How are we supposed to make an impact? Do you really expect us to believe that we can experience God’s power? Well, let me ask you a question. Does God prefer to work through strong, talented, competent, wealthy, impressive instruments? Or does he prefer to work through means that seem weak and unimpressive? God always prefers to use raw materials that seem inadequate. He chose fisherman, ordinary unschooled, blue-collar workers, to be Christ’s disciples. And when Jesus needed to feed 5,000 people, he used just a few loaves and fish. Why? Because that way, when God does something great, He gets the credit, rather than us. Everyone has to acknowledge that it was His power at work, and not ours.
"I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power."
-- 1 Corinthians 2:3-5
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." -- 2 Corinthians 4:7
"But he said to me, ’My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." -- 2 Corinthians 12:9
In other words, we qualify. It’s the same reason that God often allows us to completely wear ourselves out striving and sweating, before He finally intervenes. He allows us to try everything we can think of; He waits until we have exhausted all of our resources; until we have absolutely come to the end of our rope and the situation seems hopeless, before he steps in and rescues us. Remember the people of Israel fleeing Egypt? God waited until the last possible moment, when the Egyptian army was bearing down on them and it seemed that all was lost, before he opened up the Red Sea and made a path for their escape. Why is that? Does he enjoy watching us squirm? No. Of course not. But God knows that until we come to the end of our own resources, until we are convinced of our own inadequacy, until we realize that we are helpless and hopeless -- until that happens, we will not be ready to fully trust in him. Until we are desperate; until we are absolutely convinced that we are not equal to the task, God will not act. He will stand by, and watch and wait. And then, when we finally cry out, "Lord, save us! Without you, we are lost!" -- when that happens, then he shows himself powerful. But not before. Because we can’t receive power as long as we think we already have sufficient power. We can’t rely on Him as long as we’re still relying on ourselves.
So how do we experience this power? Not by working harder. No, what we need is not more of our power, but more of God’s power. And God’s power comes through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. What we need is a fresh work of the Spirit in our hearts and in our church. What did Christ tell his disciples?
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." -- Acts 1:8
God’s power comes through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit comes in response to prayer. Not dry, formulaic prayer. Not reading prayer requests off a list. But genuine, fervent, heartfelt, even desperate prayer. Because prayer is the barometer of whether you are trusting God. If you’re not praying for the changes you want to see in your life, then you’re not trusting God for those changes. If you’re not praying for God to bless this church, and draw people in, and bring them to faith, and change their lives, then you’re not trusting God for that to happen. You’re still trusting in yourself, or in some other person or power, but you are not trusting in God. Oh, maybe intellectually you are. But down in your heart, down where it really matters, you aren’t. Because deep down, you don’t think you need God’s power. Or you don’t think God will answer. Only when you finally get desperate enough to relinquish hope in every other source of help will you turn to God in prayer. And then, he will hear and he will answer.
Let me say it again: Prayer is evidence of faith. Prayer is evidence of a heart that is looking to God alone, a heart that is crying out to God for help. And God will respond to that cry:
"Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I call to him." -- Psalm 4:3
"The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth." -- Psalm 145:18
So I’m not proposing that we make radical changes in the format of our worship service. I’m not proposing some big new outreach program. What I am proposing is simply that we pray. That we cry out to God for his power to be revealed, that we plead with God to pour out his Spirit in our lives and in our church. Brothers and sisters, we must pray as if our lives depended on it. Because in a very real sense, they do. The power we need every day to live for Christ, depends on our prayers. The life of this church depends on our prayers. There is no other alternative. We must pray as the helpless, needy people we are, people whose condition is beyond all hope unless God intervenes.
If this seems a bit extreme, let’s look at the early church. What did they do when they faced a critical situation? They prayed, fervently and desperately. For instance, when the church was first getting started, Peter and John were arrested and brought before the Jewish ruling council. The authorities commanded them not to preach any more about Jesus. What did the church do? They didn’t mount a public relations campaign. They didn’t lobby for their rights. They didn’t sit around wringing their hands. They prayed! And so they received power to speak about Christ even more boldly.
"On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. . . After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." -- Acts 4:23-24, 31
Those early Christians were in the same situation as we are. They had no money to speak of. They had no buildings. They had no political power. In fact, they had no seminaries, or Bible colleges, not even any Christian books. They didn’t have the New Testament, because it hadn’t been written yet. But they had the power of God, because they prayed in faith, out of their helplessness and desperation, and God answered. Later on, Peter was arrested again. What happened? Listen:
"So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists." -- Acts 12:5-7
Peter’s life was on the line. Their only was hope was in God. So they prayed, fervently, desperately, and together with one another. Again God answered, powerfully and miraculously. That pattern is repeated again and again, throughout the New Testament. And there’s no reason God can’t do the same for us. Brothers and sisters, I believe this will be a year in which we see God do great things in our church. I believe God has been preparing us for this moment from the very beginning; preparing us relationally, and organizationally, and most of all spiritually. I believe that in 2002 we are going to see some wonderful, remarkable, amazing things that will make us all rejoice and praise God. But we must humble ourselves and pray for God’s power. We must cry out to God to pour out His Spirit. Won’t you do that? Let’s resolve, each of us, to make this a year of growing in prayer. And let’s resolve to see this church become a house of prayer. I know we won’t regret it,
"For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." -- 2 Chronicles 16:9 (NAS)
May our hearts be completely His in the year to come. Amen.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
