Just got home from church. This is always a rough moment in the week. After church. Because I look forward to it all week and then it ends, and you wish it wouldn’t end. Because you get to taste the beauty of the lord with believers and youre moved by his word and by the message preached, by songs sung and the breaking of bread and you go home and you feel like you’ve lost something. And you immediately cant remember what was so special to you about the message. And you think, back to real life. But that is not the case. The church is not a building or a service at 9:30, it is a people living with God. And that is not any less real at home on my computer than it is at 117 West Street, where Vintage 21 is. So before I continue with my day, it is time to sit and reflect and dwell a little more on the goodness of the lord before I go out and love my friends at NC State and my friends in south Raleigh. And this morning was a hard, beautiful truth about waiting. Waiting on the lord. Waiting for my heart to be pierced. Waiting to mature in prayer, memorizing the scripture, clinging to truth, gathering with unbelievers. Now, if you don’t know me, or if you do, it may be hard to grasp the depth of my desire to see creation restored and to see inner city transformation occur. And to see the breaking of hundreds of years of oppression and exploitation and hatred melt in the glorious light of Christ and his fierce gorgeous love for his poor. And every day I wake up wanting to be doing more to see Jesus being shone in the inner city, in the places where the poorest of the poor dwell, in places of darkness and despair. That is what I want to do, and it is all I want to do. See Jesus restore and redeem. Raleigh. Haiti. Chesapeake. Creation is groaning. So, this message of wait does not bode well with me. Of the deep desires of my heart, waiting on the lord is not one of them. I wrote down during the sermon I don’t want to wait God. Please, I’m ready. But even as I say this-I see the folly. Ready? Prepared? As if that is up to me to decide. And Tyler said, listen, social justice is not the heart of our church. Nor is growth. The heart of our church is our King, and his name is Jesus. And this is a kingdom, not a democracy. And we are so conditioned to and in love with democracy that we are trying to make the church a democracy. A kingdom represents the heart of its king. Its king alone. I must must must learn to trust God when he looks at me and says I am going to use you, the Spirit will use you, to do things you never imagined. And I think so often, this is hopeless. Restoration is not coming to my city. Girls aren’t seeing that Jesus loves them and will fulfill them in a way nothing else every will. Social work is more broken than I ever dreamed. Families are in pain. They are broken. Vintage isn’t perfect. People are still selfish. Our service is still shallow. We don’t love the poor enough to give our lives. My OWN heart is in far worse a state than I ever dreamed. And this is what Tyler said. I am not deceived or disillusioned about the brokenness in people, in the world, in my own heart. I don’t think some utopia is possible.
BUT I do believe that he who is with us is GREATER THAN he who is in the world.
What words did our king say before he left But take heart, I have overcome in the world. What words did he say on the cross?
It is finished.
And what did he tell his disciples, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. Because I live you also will live.
And what that means that as long as Jesus is alive we have something to hope in. And Jesus is alive. Jesus put death in its grave. And he alone is the source of our hope. Which means, I put no ultimate hope in myself. In other people. All my hope is in Him. So this king, he has ways and he has desires. And our ONLY job is to prepare an environment for Jesus to come and move. And he said, think about what the disciples were told to do. “Guys, go to an upper room and set the table.” And from that came the Last Supper. Came the washing of feet. Came This is my body broken for you. This is my blood shed for you. He said, “I need you to go get me a donkey.” So they went and brought Jesus a donkey. And from that he rode into Jerusalem. And from that ride came his accusation, his trial, his crucifixion, his resurrection. So our job is table setting and donkey fetching, so to speak. BUT really our job is being a part of the restoration of creation to its creator. A part of redemption. We do nothing. He does it all. He has already done all that is necessary for transformation. And will do all that is necessary in hearts. So we simply respond to the greatness of Jesus. How can we respond?
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