Onward

I was touched by a sermon I heard recently, given by a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary. It is interesting how our stories can be reflected in others. We are on a journey, headed in the same direction, and we can learn from each other along the way, having walked something similar.

Asbury has had some rough times in recent years. Life rarely fits into neat little packages tied up with bows. Eugene Peterson said, "Christians must be mature enough to deal with ambiguity. They must take life’s chaos and life’s messiness and work with it. With it you build the kingdom of heaven." It's not pretty, but it's quite a relief. Life on this side of heaven won't be perfect or ideal, no matter how much we may want it to be like that. It is a relief to realize it doesn't have to be. Even in the messes, God can work in it.

Dr. Kalas preached on Deuteronomy 1:1-7. Moses had led the Israelites up out of Egypt and they were headed to the Promised Land. Unfortunately when the twelve spies inspected the land, ten of them were filled with such fear and disbelief that God told them they would wander the desert for forty years, one year for each of the days they inspected the land. Their grumbling and rebellion brought consequences in the wilderness.

As the book of Deuteronomy opens, the Israelites are coming to the end of their forty years. Moses is about to give his final sermon to remind the Israelites in this new generation of all that God had faithfully done in the past. Moses is stirring them to action to get ready to press forward and claim the land God had promised them.

Deuteronomy 1:6-7 says "When we were at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God said to us, 'You have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on.'" (NLT) In some translations, it didn't get my attention. Had I been reading it through on my own, I would have read right past it. But Dr. Kalas drew us in and built a sermon on it.

Dr. Kalas preached that there comes a time in life when you have to move on. This Scripture, he said, is in fact a compliment from God that they could go. They had wandered for forty years, but this was God's praise that they are now able and equipped to go on. The following are his words, not mine:

At certain times in life, you can just keep marking time, wallowing in trouble, mourn losses, ponder, suffer – or you can decide to get up. This is where we really are. This is real life. A marvelous lesson for the ambiguity, messiness and chaos – be grateful for that. God has His place out there for us, of triumph in His will. A will we have stumbled about finding. A will that I couldn’t contend to be perfect with all of our imperfections and human messes. But God is used to working with messes like that. He will work with this one.

Our life has definitely had moments of feeling like an absolute mess. Walking through exile, like walking through the wilderness, has a lot of spiritual attack raging war against our minds. The enemy would have us believe that our worth is empty, our life is shattered, our punishment is earned, and our purpose is ruined. The enemy would have us believe that we screwed up, we blew it, we are forgotten and there is no place for us.

Ephesians 2 in the Message says this,

"It’s a wonder God didn’t lose His temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, He embraced us. Saving is all His idea, and all His work. All we do is trust Him enough to let Him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join Him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ – dying that death, shedding that blood – you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything. He created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.

That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He is using us all – irrespective of how we got here – in what He is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now He’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together."

Can you even imagine the difference??? The contrast is astounding to me! No longer exiled, no longer in the wilderness, but welcomed in to the kingdom??? How can it be? For anyone who has ever felt left out, alone, isolated, or outcast, and yet cries out to belong and be embraced, this is a life-changing message!!

It has been a season of healing, refining and growth. At times it has felt a little like a time out chair. Pulled out of the game, and put on the bench. The life-giving message of this sermon to me was hearing the words "You have stayed on this mountain long enough. It's time to break camp and move on." That God had a new work to accomplish in the Israelites and He was ready, and had made them ready to press onward. A new chapter, a new day has dawned.

The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit. Psalm 147:2-3,5

I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. Philippians 1:18-19 In the Greek, this word for deliverance means to rescue, save, deliver, heal. Praise God! You have indeed done what You said You would do. Hallelujah!! Break camp, let's move on...