New Sermon Series: "Patiently Waiting..."
- By Madison Avenue Baptist Church
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- 09 May, 2019
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Passages of Study: Genesis Chapters 15-21
Top Gun was released thirty-three years ago this month. One of Tom Cruise's most famous lines from that blockbuster? "I feel the need...the need for speed."
If we feel like something's going too slow, or that we're forced to wait longer than we think we should, we often assume something has gone wrong. Think about this:
Sometimes immediate is good. Sometimes, waiting really is a waste of time. But sometimes "not right now" is the best thing for us.
If Not Now...When?
Sure, slow internet can be frustrating. But when "life events" don't happen on our time, it can be crushing.
It's a matter of expectations. We expect that we should be married by 30, or that we should be making a certain salary by 50. If those expectations aren't met, we have an unshakable feeling that something has gone terribly wrong. But these expectations and timelines were never set by God; they're set by our peers and our culture. When you think about it, "no man knoweth the day or the hour..." applies to a lot more than just the Rapture.
Why Christians Wait
Scripture is full of people who faithfully, and sometimes begrudgingly, waited on God. Noah waited for rain, and then for the waters to recede. Abraham and Sarah waited for a child. Joseph waited for the betrayals to stop. David waited for King Saul's reign to end. John the Baptist waited for The Lamb to arrive. Jesus waited until he was about 30 years old to start his ministry. Mary and Martha waited for Jesus to show up when Lazarus died. There are dozens more.
I don't believe what the prosperity preachers teach; that we should wait because God is about to bring the happy ending you've always dreamed of. Sometimes our circumstances go from bad to worse, and they stay that way. We can wait because we're content with any outcome God brings about, for better or for worse, because He is the Creator, the Ruler and Sustainer of all things. As God said to Jeremiah, He is the potter, we are the clay (Jeremiah 18).
We also have to realize that sometimes we won't get to experience God's promises fulfilled. Abraham saw some of his offspring, but he didn't see a nation more numerous than the stars in his lifetime. Moses saw the promised land, but he didn't get to live in it. Sometimes we're made to wait, but the blessings we're waiting for are for someone else's benefit, not yours. Are you OK with that?
So, how can we get better at waiting patiently? We should agree with Paul when he says, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Maybe we have trouble waiting because there are things in our lives that we simply refuse to count as loss.
Join us for this Spring 2019 series, Sundays at 9:00am for our Spanish service and 10:45am for our English service.
If we feel like something's going too slow, or that we're forced to wait longer than we think we should, we often assume something has gone wrong. Think about this:
- How irritated would you be if it took 60 seconds to load a Youtube video?
- What if it took 30 minutes for a text message to deliver?
- Would you forget about the Amazon package you ordered if you had to wait a whole two weeks for it to arrive?
Sometimes immediate is good. Sometimes, waiting really is a waste of time. But sometimes "not right now" is the best thing for us.
If Not Now...When?
Sure, slow internet can be frustrating. But when "life events" don't happen on our time, it can be crushing.
- Why am I not married yet?
- Why haven't we gotten pregnant yet?
- Why hasn't my career/health/financial burden been lifted yet?
- Why hasn't my spouse given their life over to Jesus yet?
It's a matter of expectations. We expect that we should be married by 30, or that we should be making a certain salary by 50. If those expectations aren't met, we have an unshakable feeling that something has gone terribly wrong. But these expectations and timelines were never set by God; they're set by our peers and our culture. When you think about it, "no man knoweth the day or the hour..." applies to a lot more than just the Rapture.
Why Christians Wait
Scripture is full of people who faithfully, and sometimes begrudgingly, waited on God. Noah waited for rain, and then for the waters to recede. Abraham and Sarah waited for a child. Joseph waited for the betrayals to stop. David waited for King Saul's reign to end. John the Baptist waited for The Lamb to arrive. Jesus waited until he was about 30 years old to start his ministry. Mary and Martha waited for Jesus to show up when Lazarus died. There are dozens more.
I don't believe what the prosperity preachers teach; that we should wait because God is about to bring the happy ending you've always dreamed of. Sometimes our circumstances go from bad to worse, and they stay that way. We can wait because we're content with any outcome God brings about, for better or for worse, because He is the Creator, the Ruler and Sustainer of all things. As God said to Jeremiah, He is the potter, we are the clay (Jeremiah 18).
We also have to realize that sometimes we won't get to experience God's promises fulfilled. Abraham saw some of his offspring, but he didn't see a nation more numerous than the stars in his lifetime. Moses saw the promised land, but he didn't get to live in it. Sometimes we're made to wait, but the blessings we're waiting for are for someone else's benefit, not yours. Are you OK with that?
So, how can we get better at waiting patiently? We should agree with Paul when he says, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Maybe we have trouble waiting because there are things in our lives that we simply refuse to count as loss.
Join us for this Spring 2019 series, Sundays at 9:00am for our Spanish service and 10:45am for our English service.
