He was 8 years old and about to take
his first big step into adulthood. It was not a decision he made willingly. His
parents had decided it was time. So they pushed him. Right out of the bathtub
and into a shower stall. Before he could object, Brett found himself wearing
nothing but his birthday suit and staring up into the dreaded showerhead. “It
pointed down at me like an executioner’s gun,” the young man recalls. “Then Dad
pulled the trigger, the shower began to rumble and hiss, and I was screaming
before the first drop of water hit.” But that was years ago, and now Brett
showers every day and doesn’t think twice about it.[i]
Be strong and courageous. God is
with you wherever you go.
In the summer of 2005, Brett Harris
and his twin brother Alex took a long hard look at the world around them and
realized that our society has very low expectations of teenagers. But it hasn’t
always been that way. Before labor and school reform laws were introduced in
the early 1900s, young people were treated like adults. And young people were expected
to perform like adults. And they lived up to the challenge.
George was only 11 years old when
his father died, so he studied hard and mastered geometry, trigonometry and
surveying. At 17 he got his first job—as the official surveyor of Culpepper
County.[ii]
David was born in 1801 near
Knoxville, where his dad served in the state militia. At the age of 10, David
began a career at sea, serving as a naval cadet on the warship Essex. At 11 he saw his first battle,
and by the time he was 12, David was the commander of a ship that had been
captured in battle.[iii]
Clara was born in Oxford, Massachusetts,
on Christmas Day in the year 1821. When she was 11 years old, her older brother
David fell from the roof of a barn and was seriously injured. Clara begged to
help take care of him. For two years, she nursed her brother until he made a
full recovery. A year later, when she was only 14, Clara became the nurse for a
hired hand who got small pox. As the epidemic spread, Clara’s work load
increased.[iv]
These 3 young people accomplished
great things because great things were expected of them. They did not stop
doing great things as they got older. George went on to become the first
president of the United States. David became the US Navy’s first admiral. And
Clara founded the American Red Cross. But their commitment to excellency
started in their teens. The Harris twins believe all young people can do hard
and important things so they set out to start a teenage revolution against low
expectations. In that way, they hope to change the world.
Friends, I believe we can learn
something from Alex and Brett. I believe the Universal Church is suffering from
the same dreaded disease of low expectations.
According to a 2015 report from the
Barna Group, only 20 percent of Christian adults are involved in some sort of
discipleship activity such as Sunday School, Bible study, spiritual mentoring,
or Christian book clubs. And why should they bother? 38 percent of Christian
adults say that they are happy with where they are in their spiritual lives,
and another 36 percent say they are almost where they want to be.[v]
But, at the same time, about 49
percent of unchurched adults could not tell you a single favorable impact the
Church has had on our nation.[vi]
We do little because little is
expected of us. As a result, more and more people are growing up without any
religious instruction. We can do better. We must do better.
In Philippians 3:10, the apostle
Paul reminds us of our objective: “I want to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection….” Therefore, he continues in verses 13 and 14, “… this one thing
I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I
press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ
Jesus.”
Paul is not marking time. He is
pushing himself hard to win a great prize, and he urges all believers to be
just as diligent, if not more so. “Do you not know,” he writes in 1 Corinthians
9:24, “that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize?
Run in such a way that you may win it.”
God calls the Church to greatness. “Go
… and make disciples of all nations,” Jesus urges in Matthew 28:19. And 1 Peter
2:9 reminds us, “… you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him
who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are
called to do great things. Not mediocre things. Great things! So for the next
few weeks, we are going to look at some of the ways that we can overcome
complacency. Friends, I’m not gonna lie to you. This is hard work. Striving for
excellency is hard work. And it can be scary. Following Jesus may lead us to
places we would rather not go. Following Jesus may lead us to do things we
would rather not do. Following Jesus may lead us to do some really hard stuff.
Following Jesus may lead us to move beyond our comfort zone.
Be strong and courageous. God is
with you wherever you go.
No one knew that better than Joshua.
We first meet Joshua about 2 years after the Israelites escaped from Egypt.
They had been making their way through deserts and mountains, and they had
encountered one trial after another. No water. No food. Attacked by enemies. But
God had been with them all the way. God had provided for their every need. They
finally reached the edge of the Promised Land, but instead of moving forward in
faith, the people say, “Let’s send spies to scout out the land. What is the
land like? Are the people who live there strong? How many of them are there?
Are they prepared for battle? Is the land rich? Are there trees? Bring us some
of the fruit that grows there.”
So the spies go and see how great
the land is that God has promised to give them. The land is fertile. Livestock
produces well. Crops provide abundant harvests. BUT the people who already live
there are strong. Towns are well fortified. And the people are huge! So 10 of
the scouts try to discourage the Israelites from going into the Promised Land.
Only 2 say, “Let’s go. God is with us! We will overcome.” One of those is
Joshua.
But the people were terrified, and
they threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb. God gets angry because the
Israelites are being disobedient. Again. They still do not trust God, even
though God has already done amazing things for them. God has taken them safely
through difficult times. God rescued them from slavery. God led them through
the deep waters. God had provided for their every need. And they are still
afraid! They are still rebelling against God. They are still determined to do
things their own way instead of God’s way. God is fed up with them and
threatens to strike them with disease and disinherit them. But Moses appeals to
God. Seeks forgiveness. And God forgives. BUT there are consequences. The Israelites
will be forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years before they will ever
be allowed to enter the Promised Land.
So now it’s 40 years later. Moses
has died. Just about everybody who left Egypt with Moses has died. There’s a
whole new generation of folks following the Lord. And they have a brand new
leader. God puts Joshua in charge. The assistant is now the commander. And the first
thing God tells Joshua is, “Go on now. Cross the Jordan. It is time for you to
receive the land I have promised to give you.”
Talk about stepping outside your
comfort zone! For 40 years, Joshua had lived comfortably under the leadership
of Moses. Sure, as a leader of the tribe of Nun, Joshua had certain
responsibilities, but, in the past, he could always look to Moses for guidance.
Now the buck would stop with Joshua. He would now be the one everyone would
look to for answers. And that can be kind of intimidating. Stepping into a
place of authority for the very first time. New things can be a little scary.
Not only was Joshua being called
into a brand new role, he was also being sent in an entirely new direction. He
and his people would no longer wander in the wilderness. God was sending them
into the Promised Land. A land brimming with promise and possibility. It was an
exciting time! But it had to have been a scary one, too. After all, Joshua had
seen with his own two eyes how formidable his opponents would be. This was no
easy task that God had given him.
But don’t worry, God says. Be strong
and courageous. I will be with you. Joshua had trusted God in the past. And
Joshua can trust God now. “I will not fail you or forsake you,” God says. And
God kept that promise. With God’s help, Joshua was able to do great things.
The same is true for us. When we
have faith in God, we can do the hard stuff. We can move outside our comfort
zone. We can face the challenges that lie before us. We can do new things.
Things that challenge us and stretch us. Because God is with us. And God works
in us. When we are weak, God is strong!
So, even if we only have faith the
size of a mustard seed, we can move outside our comfort zone. That doesn’t mean
we won’t be afraid. Doing new things can be scary. Courage is not the absence
of fear. Courage is being afraid and doing what God calls us to do anyway.
So we have faith in God and move
outside our comfort zone. And we can be bold because, even though we don’t know
everything that lies ahead of us, we know God. We know that God is good and God
loves us and God wants us to succeed!
Be strong and courageous. God is
with you wherever you go.
[i]
Alex and Brett Harris. Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low
Expectations. Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2008. 65-66.
[ii]
Harris, 31.
[iii]
Harris, 31-32.
[iv]
Harris, 32.
[v]
“New Research on the State of Christian Discipleship.” Published December 1,
2015, on the Barna Group website at https://www.barna.com/research/new-research-on-the-state-of-discipleship/#.V8uYeyvF8xM.
Copyrighted @ 2016 Barna Group Inc. Downloaded September 3, 2016.
[vi]
“Five Trends Among the Unchurched.” Published October 9, 2014, on the Barna
Group website at https://www.barna.com/research/five-trends-among-the-unchurched/#.V8uc8yvF8xM.
Copyrighted @ 2016 Barna Group Inc. Downloaded September 3, 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment