The "Waiting Game" isn't a Game

This evening I was blessed to share with those in attendance at Calvary Chapel El Cajon about my recent trip to Australia.  The hardest part was trying to compact two months to a manageable size and convey a little of the culture and spiritual make-up of Australia.  Towards the end of sharing time I spoke about waiting for God to reveal the next step.  For a lot of us, waiting is synonymous with inaction or boredom.  If we are waiting in a grocery store line we feel hindered from our purpose of buying items.  A line at Disneyland prevents us from enjoying the ride immediately.  Whenever Laura and I would take the high school group to Six-Flags Magic Mountain, we would often come up with games to play to pass the time.  Most of those games were more annoying than just standing silently for hours!

We often see waiting on the LORD at the same way:  annoying and bothersome, our goals and plans remaining incomplete until God moves.  This is not what God desires!  Like in most instances, we have it all wrong.  Waiting upon God does not mean doing nothing.  God has given us talents He desires we invest for His glory right here, right now.  I am convinced God has called me to Australia yet I do not have a visa to permanently reside there or work.  That does not mean that I should be idle until that time!  If my Savior should return and I have to settle my debts with Him, what could I say about burying my talent in the ground?  My dad always says, "Make hay when the sun shines."  When we have opportunity, we should fully use each opportunity for God's glory according to His will.  Jesus said it this way in John 9:4:  "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work."  Waiting isn't a game or an excuse for sloth.  We are to be focused on our Savior as He leads the way.  Who can say which day will be your last?

Waiting upon the LORD is a privilege.  He graciously gives us wisdom, guidance, and strength for the day.  Remember, the night is coming when no one can work - those are the words of Jesus.  A day was coming when He would no longer walk the earth because of His bodily ascension into heaven.  Jesus had a limited time of physical ministry on the earth (though we are empowered by Christ through the Holy Spirit) and the same goes for us.  I knew that I had a limited amount of time in Australia because I had a round-trip ticket.  We are all born into sin with a one way ticket to hell and we don't know the date or time it must be used.  But when we are born again through faith in Christ, Jesus rips up that ticket to hell and grants us a ticket to heaven - again, we don't know the day or the hour when it will be required at our hands.

Whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the LORD.  Let us be active in our reliance and waiting upon God.  There can be no such thing as a bored Christian.  It is not burdensome to wait for Him, for all He does is perfect in His time.  

Near Miss?

I do not believe there is such a thing as a near miss with God.  From our vantage point things may appear to be close calls, but nothing sneaks past the God of heaven.  Have you ever lost your grip on something breakable but caught it before it hit the ground?  Perhaps your eyes grew big as you breathed a sight of relief, knowing that irreversible damage would have been done.  God's grip never slips.  Nothing outsmarts Him, overpowers Him, or catches Him off guard.

Southern California is in the middle of the first winter storm of the season.  Rain has been falling lightly but steadily all day, and the wind has been blowing strong from the west.  As we sat in the house, above the sound of raindrops there was a sudden crash that seemed to hit the house.  Running to see what happened, to my surprise I saw my parent's 90 foot pine tree lying across the back yard.  It had been uprooted by the strong winds, and crushed a wooden gate and wheelbarrow flat.  The tree wrenched some of the handrail off the balcony and splintered wood on the corner.  But that's not even bad news considering what could have happened.  God's good whether He allows a tree to hit the house or miss the house completely, but we praised God for His grace and protection.

God allows the rain to fall on the just and unjust, and He allows trees to fall onto houses and next to them!  "Absolutely amazing," my dad said with a wide grin.  "To fall into an area that size, what a small window.  Phenomenal!"  We are counting our blessings and thank God for not only protecting the people, but the property.  But was this a close call?  I think not.  That tree laid down exactly where it was supposed to.

In life we face greater disasters than falling trees or rainy weather.  The wreckage caused by sin is greater than the heaps of twisted metal on Southern California freeways during a rain storm.  Divorce, abuse, violence toward children born and unborn, drunkenness, addictions, hatred, pride, greed, and selfishness have done catastrophic damage.  Precious people created in God's image are doomed to hell by their own rebellion and disobedience, ignorant of the price owed for their transgressions.  Jesus died for the sins of the world that we might have life through faith in Him.  All have sinned.  We are not at risk, but await certain destruction apart from God, adding daily to our guilt.

But praise be to God, who has averted the disastrous end that certainly awaits all who have sinned through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Death no longer looms over the heads of Christians because Christ has paid the penalty we owe.  We need not try to cheat death or "thank our lucky stars" over near misses because we are free from fear, dread, destruction, and death.

I cannot say it better than Psalm 91:1-7:  "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. [2] I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust." [3] Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. [4] He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. [5] You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, [6] nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. [7] A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you."

This is the heritage of the saints.  God takes no chances with the souls entrusted to Him.  Rejoice in your Redeemer and Savior!

The Guidance of God

"...and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, [16] as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. [17] You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; [18] but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen."

2 Peter 3:15-18

During my morning reading, I came across this passage.  It dovetailed beautifully into the second lesson I delivered this morning in the High School group at Calvary Chapel El Cajon.  Peter was speaking concerning the second coming of Jesus Christ and how we ought to conduct ourselves while He tarries.  At the end of the epistle Peter affirms the truth of what Paul had written in his letters, though some was difficult to understand.  Some "untaught and unstable people" had twisted the scripture to their own destruction with the rest of inspired Biblical truth.  We ought not to be caught up in this wicked practice which disgraces the name of Christ and leads many to death.  Instead of being driven by every wind of doctrine, we are to rest firmly upon the foundation of Jesus Christ and be led by the Holy Spirit in our interpretation of the scripture.

My recent tour of fellowships throughout Australia revealed one major theme:  instability.  Of the churches I visited of different denominations that theme was repeated again and again.  Instead of building upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, many are building upon the doctrines of men and demons.  Being a Calvary Chapel ordianed pastor, I believe that Calvary presents well-rounded, solid Biblical doctrine translated into American culture.  I would say that I am in agreement with the Calvary Distinctives.  But I do not believe that the Calvary Distinctives are intended to be the model for church planting and leadership.  Even one step away from the foundation of Christ and scripture is too far.  Anything that threatens building upon the foundation of Christ must be avoided at all costs.  Jesus is the Head of His body.  He does not need superficial and paralyzed arms of human wisdom we would attach to His church.

There is no magic formula or pattern for the formation of God's church.  It is God's work according to His perfect will!  It would be better to throw out every book ever written (though many are good and helpful) if they deter us from THE Book, the Bible.  Divinely inspired men write many books outside of the cannon of scripture, but they are not God's Word and ought not to be treated as holy ground.  In today's lesson, we read about Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts chapter 8.  When asked by Philip if he understood the words of Isaiah the eunuch wisely replied, "How can I unless someone guides me?"  We cannot understand the words of scipture with our natural mind because God's word is spiritually discerned.  The wisdom of God is foolishness to the natural man.

We Christians often find ourselves with a need for explanation and too often are willing to consult with an arm of flesh rather than the Author Himself.  Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come and guide us in all truth, as it is written in John 16:13:  "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come."  If a child asks for food, his parent would not give him a poisonous snake or scorpion.  Jesus said that if we, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? (Luke 11:13)

The stability of any structure, including the church, is directly tied to the foundation.  If the Calvary Distinctives are the foundation of your church, the church will be unhealthy and weak if it manages to survive at all.  But if Jesus Christ is your Cornerstone, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.  Let us be as the Ethiopian eunuch who realized his need of help in understanding the scriptures and believed Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  Instead of twisting the scripture, let us seek the understanding granted by God Himself.  He is the One who not only prevents our destruction but allows us to serve and glorify Him on earth.

A gift from God

Working at Calvary Chapel El Cajon changed my perspective concerning my paycheck.  I had worked in construction for several insulation shops over nine years time and was always paid weekly.  The primary difference was not that I was paid every two weeks (or fortnightly, as we would say in OZ) at Calvary, but the source of the income:  tithes and offerings.  Speaking for myself, when I worked for an hourly wage there was a sense I had worked to earn money.  As a pastor, my salary was paid through God's provision through the obedience and generosity of His people.  This caused me to be very careful with the way I spent money, realizing people had given that money towards God's work.

Now I have come full-circle back to being paid weekly in constuction, but my perspective has changed yet again.  I had the most incredible sensation of thankfulness and indebtedness to God for His miraculous provision as I opened my paycheck for the first two days back in the trade.  It struck me like never before that the paycheck I held in my hands was a gift from God.  As such it must be used for His work and His purposes.  A steward is responsible to take charge of what he has been given, for he must answer for how he has handled his master's resources.  I don't think I'm saying anything you don't know.  But it may be something you haven't realized.  There's a difference!

When you hold a check in your hands, even if it is a "reimbursement," do you breathe out thanks to your Heavenly Father for that gift from Him?  Are you determined to use it all for God's glory and His work?  I am not saying every cent of your income should be used to support missionaries or church building projects.  We have the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us.  But do you recognize everything you possess is God's and He simply allows you to use it for a while?  If we see our money as earnings or our "just due," perhaps we will feel more entitled to use it according to our whims and not God's will.

What a treasure we have in our God!  He has given us life and everything we call our own.  Have you thanked God today?  He is the Giver who keeps on giving:  not to the end that we would keep all for ourselves, but that we might be as generous as He is for His glory and praise.