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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Joseph
Slife, lay speaker August
20, 2006 "Are
we there yet?" Lots of us have
heard that question from our
children. And when we were
children, we probably asked it
ourselves. "There."
The place of our destination. The
place we're looking forward to.
Everything will be so much better
when we get..."there." The
"Are we there yet" question isn't
just one asked by kids riding in
a car. It's one that we ask all
through our lives -- because at
times we get tired and frustrated
with the journey. We
want to be "there" -- the place
where everything is so much
better. I'm
going to talk about "there" in a
little while, but first I need to
talk about "here" -- the place
where you and I find ourselves on
this journey we call the
Christian life. Your
"here" won't be exactly the same
as my "here" -- but on this
journey we all have some things
in common. And if you just can't
identify with what I'll be
talking about in these next few
minutes, you will
someday. Someday
on this journey you'll be at the
place of frustration and fatigue.
You'll reach the place where you
think maybe you took a wrong turn
and aren't sure which way to
go. And
you'll join the rest of us who
wonder if we'll ever get
"there." I
got to thinking about this a
couple or weeks ago after I read
the book of Habakkuk
in the Old Testament. In
this book, Habakkuk the prophet
is having an "I want to be there"
moment. Actually,
it was longer than a moment.
Habakkuk had been crying out to
God for a long time, asking the
LORD to act, to intervene, to do
something to rescue the nation of
Judah from wickedness and
violence. He was tired of "here."
He wanted to be
"there." Frankly,
he's not just tired. He ticked.
He's upset with God for not
acting. Look
at Habakkuk, chapter 1, verse 2:
"How long, O LORD, must I call
for help, but you do not
listen?" Ever
been in that place? Habakkuk is
vexed by the situation around
him. He's powerless to do
anything about it. So he turns to
the only one who can help --
and... silence. "How
long, O LORD, must I call for
help, but you do not
listen?" Here's
the first
point
I want to make today about being
on the journey of life:
God
doesn't always act or answer when
we want Him
to. Understand
that Habakkuk didn't arrive at
this place of frustration
overnight. He probably had been
crying out day after day, month
after month, maybe even year
after year. And
here let's loose with a cry of
utter frustration, "How long, O
LORD...?" I'm
tired of being "here." I want to
be "there." God
doesn't always act or answer when
we want Him to. In
chapter one of Habakkuk, God
finally does answer -- and guess
what? The answer is not what
Habakkuk wants to
hear. And
that's
point
number
two:
What
God causes or allows, sometimes
doesn't match our
expectation. We
see this truth throughout the
Bible, but perhaps nowhere more
clearly than right here in
Habakkuk. The prophet has
complained that God isn't
responding, so God responds --
and Habakkuk doesn't like it at
all. Understand
that Habakkuk wants something
good. He wants revival in Judah.
He wants restoration. God
tells him not to expect
restoration but
destruction. Chapter
1, at verse 6, God says: "I am
raising up the Babylonians, that
ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
to seize dwelling places not
their own." He
is telling Habakkuk that Judah is
going to be invaded by a ruthless
army. Verse 8: "They fly like a
vulture swooping to devour; they
all come bent on violence. Their
hordes advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners like sand."
Habakkuk
got an answer, but it wasn't the
answer he wanted. We
all have expectations. We have an
image in mind of "the way things
oughta be." We think we know what
God should do. But sometimes what
He causes or allows is very
different from our
expectations. And
when that happens, we can get
into a very unhealthy place
spiritually and
emotionally. We
can actually get into a place of
idolatry, because instead of God
being number one in our lives,
our expectation becomes number
one. The idol of unfulfilled
expectations. Personal
example. In 1999, I sensed that
the Lord was telling me to start
a daily radio program focused on
praying for the advancement of
God's Kingdom in the Athens
area. So
I did. It was called Praying for
Greater Athens -- a
minute-and-a-half program, airing
on WMSL six times a day, seven
days a week. New program five
days a week, repeats on
weekends. I
had an expectation that the
program would be a catalyst in
raising up a unified prayer
movement in this city. After all,
why would God give me this
assignment? So
day-after-day, I plugged away --
researching information about the
city, writing prayers, recording,
driving the finished programs
down to the station. The
program became my second job --
maybe my third, because I was
also working 40 hours a week,
plus putting in about 6 or 7
hours a week in my role as lay
leader here at
Gateway. I
poured myself into that radio
program for five years. Five
years. Well over 1,000
programs. And
the results that I had hoped for
did not come about. In fact, I
have no idea what the results
were. There was almost no
feedback. A deafening
silence. I'm
not saying it was waste of time.
God may use yet. What I am saying
that is that I had an expectation
that did not come to fruition. It
was tough to face. A
couple of years ago, I heard Dr.
Bruce Wilkinson -- longtime head
of Walk Thru the Bible and the
author of The Prayer of
Jabez -- tell a similar
story. In
his case, he had headed up a
coalition of ministries doing
mission work in the former Soviet
Union. He was passionate about
it, poured himself into it.
Thought it was going to be the
crowning work of his life of
ministry. Thought that he was be
involved it for the rest of his
life. But
then, after five years, there was
a change in the law in Russia
that effectively brought the work
to a sudden stop. Bruce
Wilkinson was hurt, confused,
frustrated. Maybe a little angry
at God. And
as he was crying out to God in
prayer, Bruce Wilkinson says he
sense God saying to him, "Bruce,
did you do everything I asked you
to?" And he said, "Yes, Lord --
to the best of my ability I
did." And
the Lord said, "That's all I
asked for." Bruce
Wilkinson chose to lay down his
unfulfilled expectations -- and
simply worship the Sovereign God
of the universe. I,
too, felt like I had done what
the Lord asked me to. I am still
puzzled by the outcome. But I had
to lay down my unfulfilled
expectations at the feet of Him
who gave the assignment in the
first place. First
point: God doesn't always act or
answer when we want Him to.
Second point: What God causes or
allows sometimes is not what we
wanted. Now,
don't worry. This sermon is about
to take a turn -- and it will end
on an encouraging
note! But
I think we need to understand --
and come to grips with -- the
reality of the journey we're on.
It is not all sweetness and
light. Now,
most of you know me. I'm a
positive guy. I'm the guy who
reminds you every time we sing
Marching to Zion that the
"hill of Zion yields a thousand
sacred sweets
before
we
reach the heavenly fields or walk
on golden streets." That
is absolutely true -- and I stand
by it. But that doesn't mean that
life is easy. It's not. There are
seasons of refreshing breezes and
relaxing waters. But there are
also lots of times when we have
slog through the muck and mire of
adversity while carrying a heavy
backpack of pain. The
Bible is so realistic about this.
Think of all the stories about
disappointment, struggle,
hardship. Joseph thrown into
prison. David being conspired
against by a son he loved deeply,
Absolom. Mary and Joseph taking
Jesus and fleeing to Egypt to
escape the murderous wrath of
King Herod. And
don't think it got better after
Jesus came. Look with me at 2
Timothy 4, verse 9. Paul is
writing to Timothy, his son in
the faith -- and you can almost
sense the agony in his spirit:
"Do your best to come to me
quickly, for Demas, because he
loved this world, has deserted me
and has gone to
Thessalonica." Verse
14: "Alexander the metalworker
did me a great deal of
harm." Verse
16: "At my first defense, no one
came to my support, but everyone
deserted me." This
is the Apostle Paul, God's chosen
instrument to take the gospel to
the Gentiles, the key figure of
the early church. A
coworker in the ministry deserted
him. An opponent undermined his
ministry. No one was there to
help him when he was called into
court. Pain,
perplexity, frustration, fatigue.
A tough journey. In
other place -- 2 Corinthians 5 at
verse 2 -- Paul says this: "We
groan... we groan and are
burdened." "Are
we 'there' yet?" Now,
this is where this sermon begins
to engage
another
reality. Yeah, life is tough
sometimes. It can be painful.
Confusing. Tiring. But
a few verses after Paul talks
about groaning and being
burdened, he says this: "We are
always confident." Now that's a
strange mix. In the midst of all
this groaning, all this burden,
Paul says, "We are always
confident." And
reason is, he knows God is at
work to bring about our ultimate
good. This is the other
reality. Life
is not just about a hard journey.
It's about a journey to a place
that Jesus Himself has prepared
for us. And
knowing that God is working out
this plan, Paul says "We are
always confident." Then he says,
"We walk by faith, not by
sight." And
you know what? Paul is actually
echoing a verse in Habakkuk,
chapter 2. Chapter 2, verse 4.
God
is speaking and He says, "The
righteous will live by his
faith." Faith
not in our expectation about how
things ought to work out, but
faith in Him who is perfect in
wisdom, power, and
love. Faith
in Him who can be trusted, even
when everything you've worked so
hard for seems to be falling
apart and nothing makes
sense. Habakkuk,
the angry prophet, finally
arrives at this place of "faith
no matter what" in chapter 3 --
in passage that our own Marion
Bond West Acuff has used as the
basis for her new book,
Praying
for My
Life. Look
at Habakkuk 3, starting a verse
17: though
the olive crop fails and the
fields produce no
food, though
there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls...
In
other words, even if none of the
stuff happens that I want to
happen -- Habakkuk
is laying down his idols of
unfulfilled expectations -- and
is simply saying, "God, I trust
you. Though I don't understand
it, though I wish the situation
were otherwise, you are still
God. You are still my
Savior. In
her book, Marion puts this
passage in the context of her own
life when years ago her journey
took a very difficult
turn: My
first point today: God doesn't
always act or answer when we want
Him to. The second point: What
God causes or allows sometimes is
not what we want. Third
point: Nevertheless, we can
trust in the Sovereign, saving
God. The
Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he
makes my feet like the feet of
a deer, he
enables me to go on the
heights. Deer
are sure-footed creatures. They
can climb over the crags, the
rough places, the steep places --
and reach the place of higher
ground. On
this journey, there are lots of
rough spots, difficult
places. The
journey often is not easy. But
God has a destination for us. And
somehow, someway -- though we may
not see it now, though God answer
may be slow in coming, and when
it comes it may seem to be
exactly the wrong thing --
somehow, someway God is committed
to getting us to the end of this
journey. He's
committed to getting us "there."
We can trust in the Sovereign,
saving God. Well,
where is "there"? We all want to
get there. It's just something
deep down in our spirits that no
one had to tell us to long for.
We all want to get to that place
where everything is
better. I
was pondering this question of
"there" -- and something came to
my mind. I got my Bible and
opened to the last chapter of
Ezekiel -- chapter 48. This
chapter is describing the New
Jerusalem that John also write
about in the last book of the
Bible, Revelation. And
in Ezekiel 48, the last part of
the last verse says about this
New Jerusalem: Are
we there yet? No, we're still on
the journey. We occasionally get
some glimpses of there -- in the
love we have for friends and
family, in the smile and
innocence of a child, in the
presence of God with us in
worship. And
God has graciously sent His Holy
Spirit to come alongside and help
us along the way. But
we're not there yet. We will be
someday. Here's
what John saw in a prophetic
vision, described for us in Rev.
21: He
who was seated on the throne
said, "I am making everything
new!" Then he said, "Write
this down, for these words are
trustworthy and
true." "The
LORD is there" -- and that's
where we're going. In
the meantime, we just have to
keep putting one foot in front of
another, doing the things the
Lord asks us to do.
And
even if they don't turn out like
we want to them to, we can trust
in the Sovereign, saving
God. And,
friends, "when we've been
there
ten-thousand years, bright
shining as the sun, we've no less
days to sing God's praise than
when we first begun!"
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
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A
GATEWAY SERMON
Are
we there yet?
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
It's a question borne out of
frustration and fatigue -- or
restlessness with the status quo.
The journey is long and tiring --
and we want to be...
"there."
An
angry prophet
Waiting
for an answer
Not
the 'right' answer
The
idol of unfulfilled
expectations
Did
you obey God?
Let's
get real
Burdened
yet confident
Faith
no matter what...Though
the fig tree does not bud and
there are no grapes on the
vines,
...yet
I will rejoice in the LORD, I
will be joyful in God my
Savior.
Though
my husband does not get healed
and the new CAT scan doesn't
show what we want, and I have
to raise these children alone,
and I have no idea how to do
that, I will put my total
trust in the Lord. He'll have
to show me how to get through
this.
The
last verse of Habakkuk says
this:
Where
is "there"?And
the name of the city from that
time on will be: The LORD is
There.
A
biblical previewI
saw the Holy City, the new
Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a
bride beautifully dressed for
her husband. And I heard a
loud voice from the throne
saying, "Now the dwelling of
God is with men, and he will
live with them. They will be
his people, and God himself
will be with them and be their
God. He will wipe every tear
from their eyes. There will be
no more death or mourning or
crying or pain, for the old
order of things has passed
away."
A
mp3 audio file of this sermon is
here
(38
min.).
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An
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summarized
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060820: Are We There Yet?
© 2006 Joseph M.
Slife