So What Do You Expect

So What Do You Expect

12/10/95 Talent Day Numbers 32:48-52 James 4:13-17 Text Matt. 25:14-30

We are in the second week of the season of Advent. Part of the theme of advent, deals with the expectation that the Lord is coming. When we expect something to happen, we usually try to make our behavior conform to what we will expect to happen. If we expect the boss to come around the corner, we don’t usually pick up the comic strip and start reading a magazine. If we expect that something is going to be on a test, we don’t usually say, well I expect that to be on the test, so I won’t even bother studying it. No we want to look our best in the eyes of our boss and do our best on the tests that we take.

There are situations in life in which we expect one thing, but we either get more or less than what we had intended. Moses was leading God’s people out of Egypt to the promised land, but they had to go through the desert. The people had grumbled and complained so much that he was sick and tired of them. This day they happened to be grumbling about not having enough water. God told Moses, "Moses, I will give them some water, speak to the rock and water will flow out of it."

Moses fully expected water to come out of the rock. He called to the Israelites, "Listen you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock" He then took his staff and struck the rock twice and water gushed from it. Moses expected to have shown them a thing a two by his bold behavior. God, I really showed them who was boss.

But Moses had shown God something Moses hadn’t expected. God said, "I told you to speak to the rock, not strike it. Therefore you will not enter the promised land." You may say but God, it was only one mistake. You see Moses didn’t strike a rock. Moses struck God because the New Testament told us that the Rock was Christ appearing in a different form. Had Moses known the Rock was Christ, he would not have struck it. But realize this, we are always going to not know about some of the things around us.

There’s a song and a video that our young people listen to and watch. From what I gather, the song is saying don’t go chasing waterfalls, but stay close to the rivers and lakes that you are use to. In one of the scenes of a video, a young man expects to have a wonderful night of a sex with this beautiful young woman. No sooner than his moments of pleasure or over, his eyes change and you see death in them. Its obvious from the video that he has contracted aids. He had received a lot more than he expected.

Since we cannot know the future or have all the facts about each situation it is to our advantage to get to know the Lord, for the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We have talked about the love of God for so long, that we forget that we are called to fear Him. Why should we fear God? Because God has standards that He expects of us, and He’s already revealed the consequences of failing to measure up to those standards.

Each person here today is special and unique before God. God has put something in each one of us, that we have to offer to others and to offer back to Him. What we expect of God, will in a large way influence how we relate to each other as well as to what God requires of us.

Too many people plan to do all these things before they get serious about serving God. But James told us, we do not know what tomorrow is going to bring. We are all living only by the grace that God provides. Are you expecting to give God a full account of your life as it has already been, the good as well as the bad?

Are you expecting to be able to explain to God why you did what He said to do, why you didn’t do what He to do as well, and what you were one day intending to do. Somehow what we intended to do doesn’t count for much. God makes it clear that He has invested something in you, and one day, "He’s coming back to claim it."

Let’s look at what Jesus tells us we should expect to happen in our lives. Turn to Matthew 25:14 . He’s talking about what it’s going to be like when all of a sudden he comes back. Mat 25:14 "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.