Developing A Daring Faith I

There is a famous spot in the German Alps called the Eagle's Nest, an incredible little fortress that Adolf Hitler had built one mile above the canyon floor overlooking Austria and Germany. We rode a bus up a one-way road, steep road that took 3,000 Nazi soldiers three years to construct, and then rode an elevator 400 feet straight up to the pinnacle of this mountaintop and walked out several hundred yards to the fortress itself and then beyond past the fortress up a trail a bit to a place where some allies had constructed a 12-foot huge cross when they had defeated Hitler and taken over that spot. We were taking pictures and of course at that elevation at this time of year there was still snow on the ground and some people from South Carolina were throwing snow. I was sorry to see it myself, but after maybe 10 minutes of just looking around at the sites and particularly the landscapes, we began to head back toward the fortress which had now been turned into a bit of a restaurant and sort of a place to get some postcards. Carol and Mac and Susan McCabe and I started walking down. I got about 10 steps back toward the fortress and realized that beyond where we had stopped the trail went another 500 yards or so. More snow and some rocky crags and so on and something in me said, wait a minute, you can't come 6,000 miles and not go all the way to the end. So I said to Carol, why don't you go on back down and I talked Mac into going on out. We turned around and through the snow and jumping over some places where the snow was melting and there were rocks and so on, we traversed the last 500 maybe yards, maybe a quarter of a mile out to the very end of the mountaintop overlooking a straight cliff down and I can't say that anything unusual is out there except this. I got to the end, I climbed up on a rock and we got past the tourists and past the noise and the people and it was still and it was peaceful and I heard the voice of the Lord and he said to me, never lose that spirit, never lose the spirit that goes all the way to the end. I'm beginning a four or five week series today on faith and I believe it's in response to a summons of the Holy Spirit to my heart and maybe to many of you that would perhaps challenge where we are in terms of our journey to life's limits of faith. I pray a lot about this church and when I encounter different ones of you and talk with you, I'm always kind of reading your spiritual temperature and I know maybe that's a problem of sorts. I don't do it consciously but more unconsciously and I'm quite aware of the fact that sometimes we are tempted to fall into a bit of a status quo about our life in God and about our walk with him. Sometimes tempted to make the sounds of a faith walk without moving to the limits of our faith or even extending those limits to places we haven't been before. One thing I'm very sure about dear ones, the Lord wants our faith to keep moving forward all the time. God never wants us to get to the place where we finally say, well now I'm there, now I'm at the pinnacle of faith, I won't go any further. There's no place for neutral on the spiritual gear shift of your life. Even though we'd like to slip in there once in a while and just sort of rev our spiritual engine. That was a great service, wasn't it? You know what God's doing down at the point that they march for Jesus? And we can rev our engines and we can give all kinds of good sounds about what we think we hear God saying. Oh, I'm so excited about the Lord. But if we just rev our engines and talk about activities that we're observing or services or meetings or gatherings but not seeing any real progress in our own faith. Folks, I have some concerns about that. Well, you may ask, how do I know if I'm growing in faith? I mean, how do I really know it? Well, look out the windows of your life for just a little while. What do you see outside there? Are you seeing new mountains to climb? Is there fresh scenery out the windows of your spiritual journey? Are you harvesting some fresh fruit? When we were in Israel, the symbol of tourism in Israel are Joshua and Caleb walking with this huge grapevine. You know the story, of course, but that's their symbol of tourism. Joshua and Caleb saw the promised land and they came back with a positive report of the huge grapes. And it so impressed me that that's what we're to be about. The only thing personally I brought home from Israel was just a little statue of that picture. Because I want there to be fresh grapes always coming from my life. Fresh fruit. How about you? Do you see the same faces outside the windows of your spiritual life that you did 5, 10, 15 years ago? Or are there some new faces there? Hello? Are there new people? Or is it the same one? Are you sitting next to the same person that was there 20 years ago? I hope not. If it's your spouse, don't get mad at me. See, the past, dear ones, for some of us, is the greatest enemy of the future. I mean, it's wonderful to have a great past in God. But how many know the past is the past is the past? That's why Paul said, I forget what lies behind and press forward to what lies ahead. To the receiving of the upward call in Christ Jesus. And please know that once you're in the faith, it does not mean that you will stay growing in the faith. You know that, don't you? That's why Jesus said in Luke 18 in verse 8, When the Son of Man comes back, will He find faith on earth? That's why in the book of Revelation, the last chapters 2 and 3, we're talking about the seven churches, every one of those churches had slipped back from what they had initially started in. There's a danger in the church, in my life, in our life corporately, of just slipping into the neutral mode of faith and not pushing life's limits. Hear me, church, it's dangerous stuff. And when we speak of faith, there's so many important dimensions to be discussed. So many issues. I asked the elders, we just came back from our annual elders' retreat, I said, well, what would you like to hear in a message about faith? And you should have heard the gamut of ideas. Faith is so important in Scripture. Just jot down these references, maybe, if you're taking notes, and I hope you are. These aren't on there, just on the side. Matthew 11, 6, without, I'm sorry, Hebrews 11, 6, Without faith, it's impossible to please God. I did reference Matthew 9, 29. Jesus said, according to your faith will it be done to you. That's faith for receiving promises from God. Mark 9, 23, everything is possible for the person who has faith. Galatians 5, 6, how about this one? The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. The only thing that counts. Or how about this, Romans 14, 23, ever think about this verse? And everything that does not come from faith is sin? We all know that faith has something to do with salvation, don't we? We all know most of us came into a church like North Way because we were tired of trying to please God through our good works. And we discovered Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. For by grace you have been saved, what? Hello? For by grace you have been saved through faith. It is the gift of God that no one should boast. We're saved not by our good works but by grace through or received through faith. We know that's important to God. No one can boast in their own works. We know that faith has to do with answering prayer. We know that faith has to do with everything concerning who we are as a believing people. But I'm talking today specifically about the faith that is at the core of the spiritual adventure of following God. All the way to the limits of what He's planned for us. And I have to say my discernment is that a number of us maybe have lost our spirit of adventure. We've kind of decided to go back toward home base, security. Maybe unconsciously, but we're just sort of content and this is where we're going to be. Now you may say, well why is that? Why do I just sort of lay back in faith? I have just five reasons, again not in your overhead or in your handout, but you can put them in the back or in the bottom. Five things, Kelly, number one. Because the life of faith is an uncomfortable walk. When you're in faith, folks, you don't know what's going to happen next. When Peter got out of the boat and started to walk in the waves, what happened to him? One of my favorite phrases in scripture. He started to walk and what happened? The Bible says he began to sink. How do you begin to sink? When I walk on water, what do I do right away? How long does it take me to sink? I mean, boom, I go right down, don't you? But Peter began to sink and I get the picture that he slowly, you know, first his ankles, then his knees. And when he finally got to his knees, he's beginning to sink. And then he says, oh, Lord, help me. You see, faith, getting out of the boat is uncomfortable. So we don't always want to, most of us, we don't want to be uncomfortable. Another reason is past failures stalk us. When we've tried something for God, and I know many of you have. I've tried to do something for God. I tried to stretch the limits of my faith and it failed. And we just kind of retreat. Now, how many of you would apply that same principle in other areas of life? How many of you have tried golfing? Now, what happens when you have a terrible round? I mean, other than, you know, bending clubs and all that kind of stuff. You say to yourself, I'm never going out again. But what do you do? A couple of days later, man, I know I can do better. And out you go. Failure doesn't stop us. Another thing, it shouldn't stop us in faith. Number three, some of us are just tired. We're just overloaded with expectations. We just don't want to be put in a place where we're stretched again. Number four, some of us, listen carefully, are baby boomers who are nearing 50. And we're beginning to mellow out. My definition of mellow is like a banana with brown spots. Just about to go rotten. God deliver me from getting too mellow. And the fifth reason is we, some of us just don't have a vision. We just don't know what it is that God would want of us. Without a vision, the Bible says, famous verse, without a vision, the people perish or cast off their strength. So what can we do, if any of those five things are true of us, what can we do to build our faith? Let me share with you the five phases of faith. The first one is simply this. You've got to begin, and I'm going to ask you all to participate, so listen carefully. You've got to begin with discerning where you are. You know, in a recent elders meeting, the spiritual leaders, or those who you have acknowledged as your spiritual leaders of this congregation, were pondering at some length the dilemma of being over-committed. Not just them, but all of us, over-committed with our lives. Of people being so busy that, you know, whatever that word means, busy with work, busy with a second career, busy with, you know, volunteerism, busy with parenting, busy with sports, busy with materialism and keeping it right, busy with recreation and hobbies, busy, busy, busy. But one of the primary consequences of busyness is what is called the unexamined life. Fred Mitchell was a famous mission pioneer earlier in this century. Fred Mitchell said this, Beware of the barrenness of a busy life. What a great statement that is. You see, when the outer weight of your responsibilities and your activities keeps growing and growing, and if you don't build the inner core, the substructure to support them, it won't be long before the weight of all that will collapse down upon you. And like a floor to sinkhole, your life will have a break. Examine your life. First part of coming to a point of moving ahead in faith is where are you in terms of measurable spiritual growth? Where are you in terms of trusting God in specific ways for specific things? What is your time with God like? This week, what was your time with God like? Was it hurried, sporadic, confused? Was it at the same emotional tenor as your circumstances this week? Or was it refreshing? What about my life right now? Is it pleasing to God the way I'm living it? What current word from God is directing my life? What am I really passionate about right now in kingdom terms? Now, if you're drawing blanks in all these statements and you don't have a clue, maybe you need to spend some time just examining your life. And I'm going to ask you to do that. Just think about it for a moment. Where are you in the faith limits of your life? We have an overhead little, looks like a little, yeah. Get ready to evaluate yourself, all right? You're going to need a pen here and you need to wake up your neighbor because you're going to talk about this, all right? On the left-hand side is somebody who is self-centered, absorbed, risk-free, and secure. Somebody who's not really trusting God in faith much at all. On the right-hand side is someone who's God-centered, who is giving of themself, and who is fully trusting God in some areas that are too big for them to figure out themselves. That's the scale of faith. Where are you today? Best guess, all right? Give yourself a number. The only restriction is you can't put five. Are you down on this side of, well, look, I'm so busy with life? I mean, you know, if you haven't given God a thought all week, give yourself a zero. On the other hand, if you haven't done anything but think of God and do what God's called you to do at every turn, give yourself a ten. All right? Do it. Where are you? Where is your faith quotient these days? Now, I'm going to wait until I see everyone put something down, and then I'm going to ask you to do something with it. Where are you? I know this is going to be difficult. I usually don't ask you to participate, but I'm going to do it today. And by the way, if you're doing great, give yourself an eight or a nine. Don't, that's not, you say, well, you're going to trip me on some false humility question. No, I'm not. And if you're really struggling, listen, please be honest with yourself and say, you know what, I'm probably a two or a three right now. We're not going to hand this in, okay? You got it? Now, turn to one person and tell them what your number was and why. Okay? What'd you put? What's your number and why? And if there's someone sitting by themselves, like over here or over here, they're going to have to slide, and you're going to have to help them just a little bit. Look back behind you, turn around a little bit. Got it? Can I say that a mark of maturity in your Christian life, listen, a mark of maturity in your Christian life is knowing where you are? The beginning point of understanding your maturity level is knowing where you are. If you don't know where you are, you're really in trouble. See, a doctor can't make a prescription until he has a diagnosis. So that's the beginning point of growing in faith, discerning where you are. And if you really just were lost and this was all an exercise in futility, you really need some time to ask God to show you that. And I would encourage you, I'm going to give you a couple of reference books. One I'll give to you right now called Experiencing God. You might want to write that name down. Experiencing God by Claude King. Number two, the second thing is a dream. The second phase that you have to go to is when God initiates something more in your life. It may be a mission to serve Him, like being a home group leader or a Sunday school person or someone serving out in a mission outside of the church. It may be a specific task. Someone told me last night they are going to commit their resources to helping the homeless. Great. It may be a particular project that you're called to do. But most often, the dream that God puts in your life has something to do with knowing Him better, something designed to build your trust and your dependence and your intimacy with God. Folks, keep in mind, never forget this, the dreams that God gives you are not just to accomplish tasks, they're to teach you to learn to trust Him, no matter what's going on. You see, Hosea proclaimed God's compassion even though his heart was shattered by his unfaithful wife. His dream was God's compassion poured upon the people of God, even though his own life was heartbroken. Habakkuk skipped through the mountains while trembling with terror over the fact that his country was about to be judged. The fire in Jeremiah's heart couldn't be put out by the criticism and the hatred of his friends. And Peter was so passionately in love with Christ, he felt so unworthy to be called one of Christ's followers that he asked his executioners to crucify him upside down. His dream was to live worthy of Christ. Luther so responded to God's call to proclaim that the just shall live by faith that he responded with all of his heart and brought about the Great Reformation. And you could go on through history, Wesley, Whitefield, and so. Abraham simply received God's word that he'll become a nation as vast as the stars of the heavens, and he obeyed God. Do you have a dream for God? From him? For you? Has God ignited something in you that you just feel passionate about? Something you're saying, this is who I am, this is what I'm all about. This is where I'm trusting God in my life. You say, well, how do I know it? Well, if God gives you a dream, number one, folks, you don't make it up. If the dream is from God, you don't make it up. David Wilkerson was watching television for endless hours in Little Farm in eastern Pennsylvania 30 years ago. And God one night began to speak to him about going back to New York City to minister. And if you don't think about David Wilkerson crossing the switchblade, what a powerful story. He didn't make it up, God spoke to him, God drew him into it. You see, Noah didn't think, I want to build an ark because there's a rainstorm coming. God spoke to Noah, he built the ark. Abraham wasn't thinking, I want to leave my hometown and just wander around to a place. No, he was very happy, but God spoke to him. You see, he initiates it in your life, but you've got to give him that opportunity to speak. Is your dream bigger than you could ever bring about? Look in your outline, Ephesians 3.20, God is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, and hopes. And God's dreams, dear ones, don't fade away. God initiates them, they're bigger than us, and they don't fade away. And number four, God's dreams conform to his word. Someone said, I have a dream of leaving my family and moving to Hollywood and ministering to stars. I don't think so, probably not from God. God's dreams conform to his word. You know, here at North Way, we've always had a dream, corporately. Fourteen years ago, my dream was for an authentic New Testament style of church where Jesus Christ would be worshipped, where Christ's people would be in genuine relationship, and where Christ's mission would be the focus of the church. Let me say those three things again. Where Christ would be worshipped, where Christ's people would be in relationship, and where Christ's mission would always be the focus. That was the dream that propelled me into launching this church fourteen years ago. The church would be a biblical, inclusive, balanced, loving, expressive place where lives could come in just as they were, and encounter God where they are, and move forward in God's purpose. And over many years, scores and hundreds of you over time participated in that dream. You sacrificed, you got involved, you gave financially, you were committed, you were part of the groups and the framework that undergirds this church. In fact, the dream was so blessed that by the late 1980s, we knew that we had to grow and expand the ministry if we were going to have a place that would take us into the next century. And so we set out in the great project of this facility. But the building, listen, the building was always seen as a tool to serve the dream. The dream of raising up fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ, who were ministering to Christ, in love with Christ's people, and serving Christ's mission. This building was always meant to be just a tool, never to be the dream itself. And without knowing it, I have to say that I sense that perhaps some of us have allowed sort of the whole issue of focusing our lives to get this project done. It has, in some cases, maybe clouded the real dream. Dear ones, I was in places, as I said last week, that I can't describe their beauty and their splendor, their artwork, the majesty of their architecture. But they were hollow, empty, lifeless mausoleums. Why? Because people substituted buildings. I want to confess something to you right now. And I feel a little bit hesitant to do this, because not everyone will understand it. But to some degree, I feel responsible to you, to our elders and to you, that over the last months, I've kind of allowed that vision, that dream, to maybe be a little clouded. And I've not been able to call you all as passionately as I would desire to serve the dream of God. I mean, this church is about people's lives. That's what it's about. Now, we had to focus ourselves to get this project done. But now that it's done, at least 90% done, folks, we have got to, as one man and one woman, come back around to the real reason why we're here. And that's to see lives change for Christ. To see people encounter God. To see people helped and changed as they experience God's spirit in powerful and personal ways. I get letters now and then from different ones who come to us and take the time to write. One family sent me this letter recently. They said, prior to joining North Way, my wife and I wandered through four years of trials, tribulations, and spiritual dryness. But now we can testify that God's spirit is doing a mighty work in our lives. We chose to open our hearts to the spirit, giving him free reign in our lives. Every day is a new experience of wonders as the Holy Spirit cleans out and refills at the same time. Before North Way, we were unchurched for two and a half years, unconnected with other Christians, and uninspired to do God's will. But you folks have helped us find our God more fully. And he's now doing a mighty work in our lives. You see, this is the dream. This is what we're about. This is why we've done what we've done here. And I have to say to you, when I was marching yesterday, side by side with several couples for whom that was their first march for Jesus, as Christians, having their little babies on their backs and along their side, and they're marching, and they said, we just didn't have a clue that this kind of stuff ever happened. I said to myself, this is why we've done what we've done. And there's something in me that's a little concerned right now about sort of a, I think it's a snare that the enemy is putting over us right now. You see, this dream of redeeming lives for eternity will always go against the prevailing values of the culture. Now please hear me, those of you who have busy lives. The culture will always compete with you for your loyalties, always. Somehow, I'm concerned that we're trying very hard as leaders and as pastors and with one another to not overburden you with the kingdom of God. And many of the conversations I've had over the last weeks have been around the subject of how can we minimize the cost of discipleship? How can we make it easy for you to participate amidst the fullness of your busy, busy lives? Not to interfere with everything else that you're doing. And God has impressed me with something, and I just share it from my heart with you. You can test it. You know the old analogy of the frog and the beaker? You know, how do you kill a frog when you just drop him in some water and then you slowly turn the heat up in the beaker and what happens? He doesn't jump out because he thinks everything's fine until what? Until you get it hot enough and he finally boils to death. You want to know what I think the water in the beaker is in our lives? It's our busyness. And we just keep heating it up and heating it up. And you know what we're losing? We're losing the passion. I don't think we're asking the right questions any longer. My own discernment is if we let the culture set our value system, they'll be happy to do it. And we'll fill our lives up with soccer games and Little League and golf outings and travel plans and camping and houses and cars and yard sales and you name it, and we all have it. And Jesus said, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these important things. What is the driving thing of your life? How do you sort through? How do you interpret? How do you wrestle with verses like Jesus gives in Matthew 10 when the disciples are coming to Him and challenging Him? Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life from my sight will find it. How do you interpret that verse? Discipleship light or low-cost discipleship. I don't think so. In the same way Jesus said, Any of you who does not give up everything He has cannot. You see, church, hear my heart in this. It's time that we look at our lives and say, God, you're my number one priority. You gave everything for me. What can I possibly withhold from you? And to then begin to order our lives around that center, around that core. We are not winning the cultural war, dear ones. We are losing it. And the world increasingly senses the church's irrelevance. And it's just pretty much blowing by us these days. You know, I was shocked when I was overseas. You want to know the one thing that we have pervaded the cultures of Israel and every place else I visited? One thing I saw everywhere that I went? It was the American media. It was great to be in Israel, in Jerusalem, to turn on the television set and see Beavis and Butthead. But I did. With the little Hebrew characters. Think about it. And make no mistake. In my humble opinion, as I just chatted with people, America is losing its status around the world in terms of its moral leadership. And the government in Washington and Wall Street and the educational bastions of the Northeast, none of them are going to change it, folks. The only thing that's going to change it is a church that's committed to the priorities of God. And people who are willing to say, wait a minute, I'm going to order my life according to God's dream for the church. Not according to what I just kind of can fit in when it's convenient. I'm not chiding you. I hope you know that. I'm wrestling with these same questions. But it's time that some of us look at our lives and say, wait a minute, I'm committed to Christ. And I'm committed to the purposes of Christ. And I'm committed to the people of Christ. And the rest of my life will fill in what's left, period. That's a godly life. And you can say amen if you want to. Third thing we have to do is make a decision. You see, every dream, and I'll go quickly now, every dream that God brings to us requires some change. The word for crises in the Greek is the word krino, which also means judgment. In other words, if God gives you a dream, you're going to come to a point where you have to go to the fork in the road and go right or left. You've got to make a decision. Unfortunately, the cost of our dreams sometimes is more than we want to pay. But if you don't decide to do anything, your dream is just going to vanish. It's going to evaporate. Your actions reveal your level of faith. James 2.26 says, hey, faith without actions or works is dead. It's not real faith at all. Abram was given a dream to make a nation of people in a place that would honor God. But Abram had to leave his homeland. Where was Abram from? Who remembers the name of the city? Ur. Let's all say it. Ur. How would you like to be from Ur? What's your hometown? Ur. Ur. He left Ur and went out. But he didn't know where he was going. He was going someplace he didn't know. But he was following God. And it cost him everything. Recognize that your decisions will likely cause some major adjustments in your life. But that's okay because God knows how to order things in such a way that you won't be left out. And I'm going to be talking about this a whole lot more next week. You may have to make some changes. You may have to adjust your job priorities, your home neighborhood priorities, your relationships, your thinking perhaps, your commitments, your actions. But it's the only way to achieve what God has for you. Fourteen and a half years ago when Carol and I stood on the precipice of making the decision about this church, I had seven years invested in the United Presbyterian Church. I had gone through three and a half years prior to that of candidating and all that kind of stuff and all these exams and all these little different things. And this little group of eight men and we sat and prayed and we said, Well, is God saying to start a new church? And I knew if he was saying yes, that's what he's calling us to do. So I had to say no to about ten years of my life that had been invested in that particular route. I was at the crino, at the point of crisis. Would I go God's way or just continue on? And it meant leaving those things. Folks, I'm no different than you. God's dream will require a decision on your part. But can I tell you something? It was the best decision I ever made. Mary and Carol was the best. Got that one down, right? Okay. Fourth thing that happens is delay. This is the strange part. You think once you decided for God, you were sort of launching out for God, that he would right away come alongside and say, Great choice, God, now you're going to get blessed. And everything would fall into place. But what happens once you get out there, all hung out, trusting God? What happens? Nothing, right? Nothing. You just stand there and wait. And sometimes all hell breaks loose. And I'm going to talk about this two weeks from today. The whole message is on what do you do during the times of delay? When you've launched out to trust God and the whole thing is just dead in the water. I'm going to talk about that. It's a powerful, powerful thing. Abraham waited 25 years from when God said, You're going to have a kid. He was 75 when he got the message. Now, if I was 75 and God said, You're going to have a kid, I'd say, It better be this weekend. But a year goes by, and then three, and then five, and then 25 years. 25 years later, Abraham has a child. Have you ever wondered, When's God going to answer this prayer of mine? When am I ever going to get married? When am I going to have kids? When are the kids going to leave home? When am I going to get better? When am I going to get over it? But listen, I'm going to talk about this in two weeks. Delay is part of the process. It's not working against it. It's working as part of it. And finally, phase five is deliverance. The day will come when God delivers. When your faith has its full reward. And folks, those are wonderful days. They are great days in our lives. When Abraham saw that promised land, and God spoke to him and said, It's going to be given to you. When he held Isaac in his arms and said, My son, it's a great day. A day will come when God will fulfill all of his promises to his people. As I mentioned last week, folks, I am increasingly anticipating what I believe is going to be the day that God fulfills his promises, even to Israel. A day will come when Israel will be restored to faith. Romans 11, 25. I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited. Israel has experienced a hardening, in part, until the full number of Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written. Now listen, here's the fulfillment. The deliverer will come from Zion. He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins. A day will come when God will fulfill his covenant with Israel. There will be a deliverer, and their eyes will be opened. On Wednesday, June 14th, we're going to spend the evening, that Wednesday, a week from this coming one, talking about how those prophetic words may be fulfilled, and sharing with you some of the things that the Lord spoke to us. Because I believe it's something that God's go