Introduction: Some of my most interesting theological conversations take place in the hot-tub at the YMCA. Kind of a strange thought, isn’t it? Well, let me tell you about a conversation I had with a guy this past week. We’ll call him Hank.
Hank is nearly 70 years old and works out almost daily. He has kept up this schedule since his wife passed away about three years ago with cancer. I imagine it helps to be out-and-about, staying busy when you are dealing with this kind of grief. The physical activity is probably good, too.
Hank comes to the pool area and hot-tub after doing some cardio and weight training. His swim-trunks are a walking commercial for Heineken Beer, adorn with images of beer bottles and a marketing phrase I’d rather not repeat.
“You’re a pastor, aren’t you?” Hank asks, after a few minutes of idle chit-chat. It always amazes and frightens me how people seem to recognize me as a member of the clergy. If I wore a clerical collar and carried a 17lb KJV Bible with me everywhere I went, I could probably understand it. But I was sitting in a hot-tub in my swim-trunks. Perhaps the steam was glistening on my “clergy halo.”
“Yes, I am a pastor,” I said. “I am the pastor of the Red Bank Baptist Church in Marionville.”
“That’s nice,” Hank said, as if he didn’t really care. “Listen, I have a question for you. The question is this: ‘Why doesn’t God fix things?’”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean, look at our world. Every time I get a gallon of gasoline, it reminds me that we are at war in Iraq. That reminds me about 9-11 and the ongoing threat of terrorism. Add to that all the other wars, the crime, racism, poverty, illnesses, and cancer and it just seems that everything is a real mess. I want to believe there is a God and that this God is good, but it’s really hard when things are in such a mess. So I want to know: ‘Why doesn’t God fix things?’”
It dawned on me that this was the same basic question that the disciples asked Jesus in the passage of scripture that we are looking at for this morning. “Lord, at this time are you going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?” “Jesus, are you now going to finally fix things?”
The people of Israel were living under terrible oppression. They were a vassal state under the control of the Roman Empire, occupied by the Roman Army. Their own leaders (Herod and crew) were corrupt. Their legal system was in shambles. Their religious establishment had recently conspired with the Roman officials to crucify their now risen Lord. Their economy was in real bad shape. Everything was a mess!”
Following the resurrection they were now fully convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, the one whom God has anointed and ordained to save them. So they ask a very logical and theological question: “Lord, at this time are you going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?” To put it another way, they asked: “Jesus, when are you going to fix things?”
You’ve asked that kind of question yourself, haven’t you?
You are…
…sitting across the desk from a physician and she announces the test results.
…sitting across the table from a spouse who tells you that your marriage is over.
…sitting across the coffee table from your pastor as you plan a loved one’s funeral.
…sitting across a conference table with an employer who says you are being laid off.
You’ve been in setting and situations that have prompted you to raise your hands toward heaven, asking: “Lord, when are you going to fix things!”
The initial reply of Jesus is both encouraging and discouraging at the same time.
“It is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by His own authority!”
These are encouraging words in that they assure us that one day God WILL fix things. God will wipe out all illness, sickness and suffering. God will dry every tearful eye. God will cause wars to cease and lead out world to turn swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. God will bring about a time where poverty and hunger and injustice are no more. In other words, GOD WILL FIX THINGS.
But these words from Jesus are also a tad bit discouraging. The disciples wanted instant action and an immediate resolution to their trials, troubles, and tribulations. Unfortunately for them Jesus informs them that their timetable and God’s might very come from two different calendars. Yes, God will fix things – but only when God is ready. It is not for disciples “to know the times or the dates the Father has set by His own authority!”
So what do we do now while we are waiting for the “times” and “dates” to be revealed. How do we live in the interim as we wait for the Father to fix everything that is wrong about this world?
Jesus only gives one word of instruction regarding what we do in the meantime. He tells the disciples that they will just have to WAIT. Not exactly the kind of counsel that we want to hear. Someone once said that the most hated word in the English language was the word NO! I don’t agree. I think the most hated word is “Wait!”.
Our culture has conditioned us to seek instant satisfaction and immediate gratification. We expect to get what we want and to do what we want when we want – and not a moment later. Patience is a virtue that is lost to the vast majority of the people in our society. We hate waiting – whether we are in the doctor’s office, the post office, the bank, or in a check out line at the grocery store. We live in a world or fast cars, fast food, instant pudding, instant coffee, and microwave ovens. The last thing we want to be told is that we need to WAIT.
But learning to WAIT is EXTREMELY important. Those who have learned to WAIT – especially in the content of Christianity – are people who have learned more about what it means to have faith. He’s telling them to hold on, to trust, to depend, and to rely upon God.
I think we miss read the tone of Jesus voice when we read the word WAIT!.
We read it like this: “You want God to fix everything?! Well, you are just going to have to wait!”
I think it might be more like this: “You want God to fix everything?! Oh, you just wait!”
“You just wait! The Holy Spirit is going to come and fill you!”
“You just wait! You are going to be filled with power from on high!”
“You just wait! You are going to be my witnesses!”
“You just wait! In God’s perfect timing the Holy Spirit will speak His instructions to your heart and will provide you with all the power and provisions you need to advance the gospel.”
“You want God to fix everything?! Oh, you just wait!”
These are important words for us to hear as a church. They are important words for me to hear as a pastor. We so want to see our church to grow, to change, and to move forward. We want an active Older Adult Ministry, a growing Children’s Ministry, and a larger and stronger Youth Ministry. We’d like to take part in the starting of a new church to reach our local Hispanic ministry. We want to see fewer funerals and more baptisms. We’d like to see an increase in the number of people at worship, in Bible Study, and leading in acts of ministry. We want to see all these things and more – and if you are like me you want to see them YESTERDAY.
Imagine how the disciples felt when they stood with Jesus on the day he spoke these words. Think about what they had seen and experienced. Think about the sermons, the teachings, and the miracles. They had come to regard Jesus as the Messiah, the one anointed by God to be their redeemer. It all seemed to come crashing down as they watched him be arrested, put on trial, tortured and then condemn to death on a Roman cross. They hardly had any time to grieve before they got word from some of the women that Jesus had been raised from the dead. They scoffed at the notion until Jesus came and stood in their midst. Then, for the next forty days, Jesus appeared to them many times offering convincing proofs that he really was alive as He spoke with them with great passion kingdom of God.
After all this I imagine that they felt ready to storm the gates of hell and stare Satan in the eye. “Lord, is this the time when you are going to lead us to make everything right! We’re ready go, Lord! Just say the word. Is now the time when you will restore your Kingdom?” How did Jesus reply? “Sit tight, fellows. You just wait and see what’s going to happen when the Holy Spirit comes to fill you with power!”
I think we can relate to how the disciples were feeling. There are times when we feel passionate and self-motivated to act on behalf of our Lord. Then Jesus says, “Wait!” Why? Because Jesus doesn’t want self-motivated passion! He wants Spirit-filled living. “Wait! You are about to be Baptized with the Holy Spirit!”
I saw a bumper sticker recently. It said, “Jesus Christ is Coming Back Soon! Look Busy!” The sad reality about this bumper sticker is that it accurately describes much of the philosophy of contemporary Christianity. We think that Christianity is all about OUR activity for God. The biblical truth is that Christianity is all about God’s activity in us and through us.
The world says, “Don’t just stand there, do something!”
Jesus says, “Don’t just do something, stand there!”
Jesus says, “…wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John Baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit!”
“Wait!”
Do you know what our problem is with waiting? We think waiting means being passive. But it is not about being passive. It’s about being receptive. The time of waiting is a period in which we open ourselves up to God with the realization that we need something more than what we have without him. When Jesus says wait he instructs them to be open and submissive to what God might say, what God might do, and where God might lead.
So how do we actively wait? How do we become receptive and submissive to the Spirit’s work in our lives? Look at what the early church did! The Bible says “They all joined together constantly in prayer…”
How do we actively wait for the Holy Spirit to fill us with power? We pray!
From this point forward in the sermon I had a really hard time knowing what to say next. I did my best to think up three points and a poem that I could share about how to have a productive prayer life. But nothing seemed to materialize. So you know what I did?
You’ll like this! I prayed! All week I prayed for God to give me something to share about the ability of prayer to make us open and receptive to God. It was really hard to think of prayer in those terms because so much of our prayer life seems focused on making God open and receptive to what we want. So I prayed! “Lord, what would you have me say about prayer?”
It wasn’t till yesterday that God answered my prayer and brought to mind a story told by Richard Foster.
Foster tells of a friend walking through a shopping mall with his two-year-old son. The boy was cranky and out of sorts and nothing the father did would settle him down.
When nothing else works the father finally picks his son up, holds him in his arms, and begins to sing to him a song that he makes up as he went along” “I love you. I love you. I love the way you laugh. I’m glad to be your dad.”
Suddenly this song does what nothing else could. His son’s eyes get wide, his mouth closes and grins, he nestles into his father’s chest and listens all the way out to the car.
When his father puts him into his car seat and buckles him in, his son throws out his arms and says, “Sing it to me again, Daddy. Sing it again.”
Prayer is like that. With simplicity of heart we open ourselves up to God. We allow ourselves to be gathered up into the Father’s arms and we let Him sing His love song to us. We learn to let go of ourselves and learn to trust in God. We learn how to WAIT in the gracious grip of our Heavenly Father.
Yes! Sing it again. Sing it again!
