Enlarge your tent, Isaiah 54:2
Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
February 24, 2002
The man told his doctor that he wasn’t able to do all the things around the house that he used to do. When the examination was complete, he said, "Now, Doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English what is wrong with me."
"Well, in plain English," the doctor replied, "you’re just lazy."
"Okay," said the man. "Now give me the medical term so I can tell my wife."
We are creatures of habit we all want to get around like we used to, It is out tendency to resist being stretched.
We have gotten comfortable, and established in a routine. Someone has said that Ruts are just open ended graves. But for most of us Ruts define the way we live.
We get up every morning and get out of that some old bed, put on those same old clothes, walk to that same old table, eat that same old breakfast, pack that same old lunch, put those same old kids on the bus, kiss that same old spouse, drive that same old car to that same old job, get off at the same old time, drive down that same old street, pull into that same old drive, have that same old dinner, watch that same old program, get in that same old bed. Then you get up the next morning to do the same old thing all over again.
And you think, that’s life. Friends that’s not life!
Two hunters got a pilot to fly them into the far north for elk hunting. They were quite successful in their venture and bagged six big bucks. The pilot came back, as arranged, to pick them up.
They started loading their gear into the plane, including the six elk. But the pilot objected and he said, "The plane can only take four of your elk; you will have to leave two behind."
They argued with him; the year before they had shot six and the pilot had allowed them to put all aboard. The plane was the same model and capacity. Reluctantly, the pilot finally permitted them to put all six aboard. But when the attempted to take off and leave the valley, the little plane could not make it and they crashed into the wilderness.
Climbing out of the wreckage, one hunter said to the other, "Do you know where we are?"
"I think so," replied the other hunter. "This is just about the same place where we crashed last year."
Someone has said
"Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is called insanity"
We didn’t mean to but we settled into routine.
If you do what you’ve always done you get what you’ve always gotten, for some that means spiritual barrenness. We didn’t mean to but we became spiritually soft. When we fall into those routines, our lives no longer bear the same kind of fruitfulness for God’s purpose.
In Isaiah 54 The people of Israel were experiencing spiritual barrenness. The people were thirsty for God to do something in their life. They were tired of the same old answers and the same old dialogue. They were people who were honestly seeking God to feed their souls.
Friends, have you ever felt like that?
Have you ever been so thirsty for God. Your life has the same old things it had a year ago. You find yourself searching for meaning in the grayness that just seems to blend from day to day. One of the reasons that Groundhog Day was so popular as a movie is because so many people feel like every day is the same for them.
Isaiah is writing about people who are craving meaning in their life. He is saying that a day will come when God will ask something incredible of you.
Through the corridors of time perhaps you can hear Isaiah calling to you today. Maybe you can hear God whispering in your ear this morning.
The key to Christian living is to go when God asks you to go and to wait for Him when he is patient. But for each person God will ask you at some point to do the things in Isaiah 54.
I’m real excited about the next 4 weeks here. Because I really believe that they have the potential for us to tap into the voice of God in 2 ways. First I believe that in the next 4 weeks God is going to speak to us as a church. But I also pray that during the next few weeks you will tune in personally and listen to what God is asking you to do. How will you be a part of what God wants to do?
Isaiah 54:1-3
1: "Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband," says the LORD. 2: "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. 3: For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
Prayer
God is ready to do a bigger thing. God has a bigger plan for your work. "You must enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide." go to the next place where God wants us to go? "Lengthen your cord, strengthen your stakes, for you have spread out to the right and to the left. Your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities."
In this text the question that God is asking is “Will you Grow?”
There are some common misconceptions about how to grow spiritually
A New York City businessman moved to the country and bought a piece of land. He went to the local feed and livestock store and talked to the proprietor about how he was going to take up chicken farming. He then asked to buy 100 chicks.
"That’s a lot of chicks," commented the proprietor. "I mean business," the man replied.
A week later the new farmer was back again. "I need another 100 chicks," he said. "Boy, you are serious about this chicken farming," the man told him.
"Yeah," the man replied. "If I can iron out a few problems." "Problems?" asked the proprietor. "Yeah," replied the man, "I think I planted that last batch too close together."
We cannot grow by burying ourselves and expecting sprouts. In order to grow spiritually you need to listen to the shepherd’s voice. But there are also some other things you need to do.
I. Enlarge Your Capacity For God
God wants to do a bigger work in your life. God has a bigger purpose. But for that to take place you must enlarge your capacity for God. The number one purpose God had in creating us was for us to know God in an intimate relationship. And the second reason God created us was to make himself known through us.
Making room to grow.
1 Chronicles 4:10: Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request. In the book, "The Prayer of Jabez". This is Jabez’s prayer, "Bless me and expand my territory."
It’s not wrong for you to ask God to bless you. In fact I would suggest that should be our prayer. Now the thing that made it right was that Jabez wanted to be used to ultimate capacity. His prayer was not self centered but rather it was centered upon allowing God to expend his area of influence.
God wants to expand your influence for his purpose. The measure of your life is not what you consume but what you allow God to birth through you. Here is a powerful principle in life: we live to give. It is a principle that is woven into the fabric of creation. Salmon spend the last days of their lives battling upstream to spawn. They have this intuitive sense that they exist for the purpose of birthing new life.
It’s not based on our ability. It’s the Spirit that dwells in you - all of the fullness of God that God wants to unleash through your life. It’s not your ability, it’s your expandability. God needs expandable tents. God uses elastic vessels who are able to change and grow with what God is doing.
Which one is bigger, a water bottle or a balloon? The water bottle is bigger. Which one will hold more? The balloon. Now what is the problem with the water bottle? It is restricted. It cannot expand. It is not elastic. This isn’t about your size, it’s about your ability to stretch with what God wants to do. If you take this same balloon it holds even more because of its ability to stretch and expand.
It’s why Jesus said you can’t put new wine into old wineskins. They used to keep wine in animal skins. Old wineskins dry up and lose their elasticity, their ability to stretch, grow, change and expand in God’s capacity. To expand your influence for God you must expand your capacity.
You have to expand your capacity to increase your influence for God. Faith is a concrete action. It is not holding to a belief in your head. It is a concrete action that requires us to enlarge our capacity for what God wants to do.
II. Stretch Your Commitment
Stretching has the tendency to cause pain.
When you stretch you are working a certain set of muscles. So in order for us to stretch ourselves to what God asks us to become, it’s going to require some pain on our part both as a church and personally as well.
You expand your influence by expanding your capacity. Stretch your commitment. It’s like muscles. Do you know how you make a muscle stronger? You have to tear down some of the cells by over-committing your muscle.
Now I don’t expect you to all sign up for every bible study, ministry team, and community service activity that is offered. But I think It’s time to take a healthy look at the amount of spiritual commitment you are currently undertaking.
You know as a church we have faced a landmark decision with the desire to hire a youth minister. We all know what kind of a sacrifice had to be made and many families are responding by going over and above their regular giving. When we allow God to stretch our commitment there is no end to the potential of what can happen because of God working here.
One of the things that the survey’s told us is that of all of our people who come to worship, one third are involved in service, We also found out that less than one third attend a bible study or small group.
I would encourage you that one way of stretching your commitment is to add more balance to your relationship with God.
We hope you walk away from Sunday morning being refreshed and encouraged but the main purpose that we come together on Sunday is to give. We come to praise God and to give honor and glory to him.
It is my prayer that you will find a way to develop lasting friendships through bible study or small groups where you can be open to a deeper relationship with God.
One other thing I would like you to consider it to get involved in some kind of service, if you are not already doing so. Find an area that you feel God calling you to. It could be preparing information or helping with mailings, perhaps just cleaning the church would be a stretch for you. You may feel God asking you to lead a small group or prepare a dinner. There are a number of ways to become involved in service. If you don’t know where to start talk to one of our elders or me about current needs of the church.
I remember my first weekend in part time ministry. I showed up and rearranged a materials closet at church. I realized that the Job needed to be done but I also knew that was not what I was hired for. So the next week I started meeting kids.
Now I love people but I have to say meeting someone with no one introducing me was terrifying for me. But because I allowed God to stretch my muscles of commitment he has blessed my ministry.
Allow God to make you uncomfortable, Those growing pains will subside and your commitment will be larger.
III. Expand Your Influence
How big is your tent? In this verse Isaiah says you need to spread out to the right and the left. You need to make your mark on a land that does not yet know who you are.
In other words you need to expand your influence.
A defendant in a lawsuit involving large sums of money was talking to his lawyer.
’If I lose this case, I’ll be ruined.’
’It’s in the judge’s hands now,’ said the lawyer.
’Would it help if I sent the judge a box of cigars?’
’Oh no! This judge is a stickler or ethical behavior. A stunt like that would prejudice him against you. He might even hold you in contempt of court. In fact, you shouldn’t even smile at the judge.’
Within the course of time, the judge rendered a decision in favor of the defendant. As the defendant left the courthouse, he said to his lawyer, ’Thanks for the tip about the cigars. It worked!’
’I’m sure we would have lost the case if you’d sent them.’
’But, I did send them.’
’What? You did?’ said the lawyer, incredulously.
’Yes. That’s how we won the case.’
’I don’t understand,’ said the lawyer.
’It’s easy. I sent the cigars to the judge, but enclosed the plaintiff’s business card.’
God wants you to use your influence in a positive way. I think you may not realize how much your influence effects other people.
A mother took her young son shopping. After a day in the stores, a clerk handed the little boy a lollipop. "What do you say?" the mother said to the boy, to which he replied, "Charge it!"
The truth is. We reap what we sow. Your return will only be as great as your investment. When you enlarge your capacity for God by stretching your investment of faith, God will expand your influence.
But there are some things you can do to expand your area of influence. Steven Covey says that the best was to expand your circle of influence is to stop being reactive. He suggests that instead of being controlled by our environment, that we become proactive and begin to take charge of our lives.
You can expand your influence by showing concern for others and anticipating their needs before they do.
The best way to expend our influence is to expand our circle of concern. Churches that grow are churches that show a genuine concern for their community.
That is the Call of Christ, It was in essence to love each other but then he want on to say how easy is it to love other people who are like you, Then he says I’m telling you to love those who you don’t like and don’t like you. He says pray for those who irritate you. He is saying Expand your circle of concern. Go out of your way to show people the Love of God.
You say how can I do this?
I think one good example is stated in the definition of our youth minister purpose statement. We are not hiring a youth minister just for us, we want to hire someone who is going to reach out to the youth in the area.
It is my prayer that the Youth minister is just the beginning of this church expanding our influence.
Another way you have expanded your influence was with the community appreciation dinners that you have been putting on.
There are Funeral dinners that we do that expand our influence in this area.
By the grace of God I hope that He calls us to more areas of concern for our community.
You say that’s great but what could I do?
Pick up the paper, and send a card to the families who have babies in our area, Send a card to families who have lost a loved one. Encourage a child to go to camp. Take a plate of cookies to your neighbor, Go meet lonely strangers in the hospital. There are any number of things that could be done. Enlarge your circle of influence. Someone has said that no one cares how much you know till they know how much you care.
The way to influence people for Jesus is to expand that circle of concern.
You might need to make a commitment this morning. You might need to come clean about your life and accept Jesus as your Lord and savior. Perhaps you want to start making a difference.
If Jesus is telling you to expand your life to accept him come forward today.
