While I'm Waiting - 2011

Waiting For God – Sermon 6/5/11

“It is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1: 7-8

It is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by his own authority. Jesus is promising the Disciples will receive the Holy Spirit, they just have to wait. They cannot do this by their own schedules; this one has to be done by God. We have the luxury of reading on to the next chapter and seeing that Jesus stays true to his promises and the Spirit is sent. But imagine standing there as one of the people who has followed Christ for three years. They answered his call, they heard him teach, and they watched him die. Then they were able to walk with him for awhile longer and here he is against all odds telling them that he is leaving but sending the Spirit, and then he too will return one day. What were they thinking, what were they feeling? From the scriptures it says they obeyed Christ and they went and waited for the Spirit to come. 

They waited. The Jewish people had spent generations waiting for the promised Messiah. The largest portion of our Bible is the stories of them waiting. They lived they served they messed up and they started over the whole time while they were waiting. They spent their whole lives waiting for the promise and many of them never saw it fulfilled. That didn’t change the fact that they were waiting.

Waiting, to wait, to be in a state of anticipation. We spend our whole lives waiting. We wait in line at Wal-Mart because they only have four lanes open, we wait at the red light, and we wait on our fast food that is taking more than five minutes. We spend hours waiting for the things that we want in life. Parents wait nine months for the birth of their child and then wait years for them to grow up and be on their own, then they wait for grand children. Children wait until they will be old enough to drive, to stay out late, to move out, to be done with school, to get married, to be independent.

Some days this time of waiting is easier than others. Paul often compared the life of a Christian to running a race. We know there is a finish line somewhere up ahead we have faith in that, but the hard part is keeping the faith when it gets hot the road gets bumpy and the competition just seems too strong and that finish line is nowhere to be seen. I am going to share with you a song today (as I always do)! I first heard this song when I was driving one day. It was right before graduation and I was really bummed. Here I was I getting ready to graduate with my Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies with a minor in Youth Ministry. I have a heart and a head full of ideas and passion. All I want to do was have my own youth group and to finally have the opportunity to put that expensive schooling to use, and yet I am jobless. I’m twenty two years old and moving back into my parent’s house, every young person’s dream, right? Needless to say I was really struggling with knowing my call but not having a place to use it yet. I was very confused and heartbroken, because I thought the job that was for sure where I was supposed to go had been filled by someone else. Then this song came on the radio:

While I’m Waiting by John Waller

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

            Every time I listen to this song it really gets me to thinking. We are called to live out our lives no matter where we are or what we are doing. I have to remind myself that even though I’m not working in a church right now I’m still doing ministry and I’m still serving God. There is nothing like spending the day in the world of a three year old to remind you that this is not the end. And as Bishop Jones said at Annual Conference a couple of weeks ago, “God is not through with us, yet.” Let’s think about that…

God is not through with us, yet! The promises haven’t all been fulfilled we live in a time of waiting. And in this fast paced world we live in that is sometimes hard to comprehend. The Bible was written by people who were waiting. And it’s the people who are willing to serve him and worship him and love him while they wait that we model our lives after. So no matter where you are in this race of life you are waiting for something. What is it that you are waiting for? Jesus asked his Disciples to wait for the Spirit, and then after the Spirit was upon them they awaited his return by sacrificing their lives for the Kingdom. What are you doing while you are waiting? We are all waiting for Jesus to come back, some people jumped on the bandwagon and thought the rapture was going to be a few weeks ago. But it says that you will not know the times or the dates so what are you doing with the time you have been given? The Apostles were the first of the martyrs and there have been many since then. I’m not saying that you are all supposed to go out and lay down your life for Christ but what are you doing for the Kingdom of God? What is it that you are sacrificing? We can all sacrifice our time, our money, our energy, our comfort zones and many other things to serve God.

God is not through with us, yet. This church family has been through a lot together and we are still standing. Last week in Sunday school we were talking about how we are struggling as a congregation to grow. How do you bring new people in? Well I wish I had that answer but I do know we aren’t the only ones struggling with that. At conference they showed a video that had a bunch of depressing numbers about how numbers are declining the church today. So it’s not just us. The idea that God is not through with us yet just proves that there is more work to be done. We may be small but we are mighty. As long as we continue through our time here working, worshiping, loving, and living for God we will prevail. I keep getting this feeling that God is calling me out of my comfort zone and into his. In my covenant group at school we read Crazy Love by Francis Chan. This book talks a lot about changing the way we think about God. And about living a life of true faith and absolute love for God. I am going to share a passage with you from page 168. “I wrote this book because much of our talk doesn’t match our lives. We say things like, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,’ and ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart.’ Then we live and plan like we don’t believe God even exists. We try to set our lives up so everything will be fine even if God doesn’t come through. But true faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God’s fidelity to His promise. A friend of mine once said that Christians are like manure: spread the out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horribly. Which are you? The kind that reeks, around which people walk a wide swath? Or the kind that trusts God enough to let Him spread you out – whether that means going outside your normal group of Christian friends, increasing your material giving, or using your time to serve others?”

This race is not over, so let’s keep running. And serve God while we are waiting even when it is painful and difficult.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” – Hebrew 12:1