Why did Noah build an ark? Quite
simply, because he believed God when He told him a flood was coming.
Noah expected a flood.
Why did David go out against Goliath
without any weapons or armor but his shepherd's sling? Because he
expected to kill Goliath. He believed Jehovah was with Israel, not the
Philistines.
Why did Jesus endure the shame and
suffering of the cross, and the fear of death? Because He believed the
Father would resurrect Him on the third day for the redemption of
mankind. He did not expect that His body might see corruption, or that
his grave would be forever.
Faith is not the stuff that dreams are
made of. Faith is tough, realistic, and practical. God works his wonders
in the nitty-gritty world of reality in which we live. When some brother
gets up and prays on Sunday that "the gospel be preached throughout the
world..." the prayer acknowledges at least two things: (1) it is God's
will that the Gospel be preached to every creature under heaven, and (2)
the one praying acknowledges that it is God's will. Probability gives
way to certainty as it is verified or validated in our life.
If we observe a creature in the wild
and, drawing upon our experience, determine that it walks like a bear,
has teeth and fur like a bear, and roars like a bear, we infer that it
might be a bear. However, faith does not work the same way. By faith we
know certain things, not because they are observable and respond to the
scientific method, but because the facts are revealed from heaven. We
know because of the character of God. Our expectations spring from the
confidence we have in the immutability of God.
One characteristic of the great
majority of churches today is our total lack of any kind of expectation.
We anticipate hardly anything. Many Christians fall away, not so much
because they are evil as bored. They are bored with church, indifferent
to preaching, in a rut with their lives. They look around and are
unchallenged by the lives of anyone around them. In worship a mood of
resigned ennui reigns, which is usually blamed upon the preaching and
teaching being done.
Rich churches who can afford it, go
hunting celebrity preachers whose pulpit style, delivery, and content
will keep them entertained and awake. Some preachers resort to humor,
another will develop theme topics based on relevant current issues. They
try to kindle damp spiritual fires with new programs, novel class
offerings, and social events. Innovative, creative, multi-media
dramatics are promoted to break through the lack of earnest expectation
in the effort to bring faith alive.
No wonder the preachers who are courted
and valued are those who still retain their youth, enthusiasm, and
stamina. However, increasingly the fields are littered with the rusting
armor of these glorious soldiers of the cross, who burn bright and then
burn out and go down in sin to Satan's lance of discouragement,
depression, and crisis of meaning. In such an environment of
low-expectation, the wonder is not that so many preachers fall away, but
rather that as many men of God survive lives of growing desperation as
do.
Brother and sister, we can anticipate
God's working in our lives in dramatic and personal ways when we step
out in faith, genuine expectation of keeping his will. A brother said to
me during one of my pep-talks, "I might be able to have the anticipation
you speak of if God spoke to me like He did to Moses or Noah. But, God
hasn't told me to build an ark."
Yes, but He has told you to build a
life. He has told you to build a body, a family, a church as glorious as
the place where God might dwell
(Eph.2:21, 22).
He has told you that the bricks and mortar are people
(1 Peter 2:4),
and that you are to gather the material for God's house from every
highway and byway, from among the poor, weak, maimed and cripple
(Matt.22:9; Luke
14:20). Your building is to fill
the earth with God's glory
(Rom.10:18).
So, what do you expect God wants from you?
Other Articles
Sackcloth and Ashes
The Forgotten Command
That's Life
