It is not the will of God that any of His children develop a confidence in formulas. We are so prone to seek out objects upon which to build our confidence; our minds are hardwired to look for places to throw out life-anchors in order to experience stability in hope of perpetual comfort. We assume certain people will always be by our sides and then – one day – they are gone. Jobs offer us routine for major portions of our weeks and we come to rely upon the regularity of assigned tasks, a steady work environment, familiar people bearing personalities that we are accustomed to and then, of course, a regular paycheck. We rely on these things, assuming they are permanent fixtures but then we are called to the supervisor’s office and laid off. These seemingly secure things and people bring us a false sense of secured well-being. Our churches do the same thing as we enjoy a regular weekly meeting (or 2 or 3) with those that we have come to love in the Body of Christ. Pastors and teachers and friends and ministries afford us a sense of real purpose in something as God-ordained as the local church; but even these things are subject to change. None of the things I have mentioned are bad- in fact, they are highly beneficial if kept in the proper place. When they become part of our assurance and morph from “things granted” to “things needed”, however, we run the risk of making tiny gods out of them. It is possible for true children of God to become subtle idolaters as the confidence we should have in Him alone becomes misplaced and finds itself rooted in things that may disappear overnight. I well-know the dangers of this firsthand.
“And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” – Acts 4:31 {ESV}
I’m not writing to explain or expound this morning. My aim is to have you who are Christians consider that there are God-appointed moments of divine shake-ups needed in our lives. The disciples were on their own in Acts 4 and they had little instruction to go on. It is not that they were winging it but, simply put, they had been left to live in hour by hour dependence upon God’s Spirit. This is not really what humans desire – even saved humans – because we prefer formulas, clear forecasts of what is to come, iron clad guarantees about eventual outcomes and circumstances which easily remain within our own control. God proves that this is not beneficial to us so He regularly tosses us into the deep end of the pool without our floaties on. The Almighty is not a fan of our formulas. The disciples in the book of Acts did the only thing they knew to do and they did this all throughout the book. These men and women sought God in humbled prayer and then expressed trust in Him through devoted praise. The result was that God chose to repeatedly shake things up and bring things out, turning their previously mundane little lives upside-down. He would drill His followers through difficulty, fill them with His Spirit, spill them in amazing ministry works and thrill them through the entire process. No formulas required, just constant dependence upon God and patient abiding as He worked out His plan. These men and women went from retreating cowards in the Gospels to individuals who boldly proclaimed the name of Jesus after they were empowered with the Spirit in the early chapters of Acts.
Okay, so I did expound a little bit – forgive me, it’s hard for this mule not to kick because it’s in my nature. I will close by encouraging you to consider two things: 1) have you sensed that you have a need for an overhaul in your life? a filling? a replacement of stale formulas with renewed dependence upon God? 2) are you doing anything at all to position yourself for such a shake-up? are you expecting new wine to be placed within the old wineskin of how you’ve come to live? Today is a great day for God to awaken us to the depth of His plans for us. He is never done with you until your last breath escapes your lips. It is only then that you are allowed to be convinced that His earthly plan for you has concluded. Until then, accept that you and I are always in need of fresh work of God. Yesterday’s reality is too stale for today and our King declares that He is making all things new (Revelation 21:5). I wonder what how He intends to apply that to your life today?
Your blogs remind me that I have so much work to do and no idea how or what to attack first….
This blog entry brings Adam hiding hin the Garden to mind. Sin changed him and all that he knew as stable and safe and good was lost. So he tried fig leaves as a pathetic substitute. God shook the leaves off of him when He came walking in the Garden. I remember reading this account maybe 20 years ago and, when God asked, “Adam, where are you?”, it struck me that He was obviously not unawre of Adam’s physical location; His question was really “Adam, where are you in your relationship to Me?” Adam’s fig leaves and all the things you listed here represent pathetic human attempts to create our own sense of security. I know because I’ve been there. Thankfully, the Lord loves me too much to leave me in a pathetic situation!
I left off something. Thanks for your very good thinking about matters of faith, Jeff. Christians everywhere need more thinking.