Through Means Unexpected

1^st Kings 17:8-16; Mark 12:38-44; Hebrews 9:24-28

Central Baptist Church, Lowesville, VA

12 November 2006

We have inherited a set of standards whereby God should operate. We have expectations. There is nothing wrong with expectations. They arise from experience and grant security regarding the future. Our expectations about God based on traditions and experience with God. If we are not careful, however, we may force God into a box, as though our expectations were requirements imposed upon God’s sovereignty. Should God abide by our sense of appropriate means? Do I force God into a box that does not fit the Almighty?

Elijah thought everything was over. He had defied the King Ahab and now expected to die as a result. He ran into the wilderness and Yahweh provided for him through birds at a brook that finally dried up. Sure, he trusted God, but the king was after him! God was up in the heavens, and what use would that be when the king finally nabbed him? Elijah would be dead. Yahweh had decided to send a drought, so the brook drying up would be the end. If Ahab did not locate him quickly, Elijah would die of thirst. God did something strange.

Yahweh did not send rain just for Elijah’s needs. Rather God sent Elijah to Zarephath, a city of the Phoenicians, worshippers of Ba’al. This was the deity Jezebel promoted, her very own land. There Elijah finds a widow that Yahweh has selected to care for him. She already knows Elijah and Yahweh, God of Israel. Ahab may have incited Israel to abandon Yahweh, but here in the land of Ba’al is a very different story. A widow of meanest resources proclaims faith in Yahweh’s provision, willing to care for this foreign prophet in the midst of drought and famine.

Working with the Traditionalist Gauchos in Brazil was a new experience for us. It was a new experience for evangelicals. Many considered Traditionalists as ungodly, immoral, and perverted. Many considered wearing the traditional garb sinful. We stepped beyond the comfortable barriers of our Baptist heritage and traditions. We entered into one of their centers with the purpose to taking the gospel with us. We found that God was several steps ahead of us. No, the people we met were not Christian believers, but they were open to the aims of the gospel. They wanted to know why Americans would join a traditionalist center, wear their garb, and celebrate their heritage. We had to be willing to step beyond Baptist traditions to serve God.

As we were purchasing traditionalist garb in preparation for beginning this ministry, a non-believer involved in Afro-Brazilian spiritism offered to help us. She knew that her people needed to know God’s love for them. Though she had not accepted faith in Christ, she committed to aid us in our mission among her people. God’s provision comes from unexpected quarters. Are we in tune with the unexpected character of God’s provision?

Jesus was not nice when talking about religious leaders of his day. Didn’t he know the maxim, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all?” He certainly did not abide by it. He called out hypocrisy for what it really was. The religious did not like it, but I am persuaded that the common folk recognized the truth in his words as he spoke them. They knew what the smell of being stepping on others while professing to serve God. They recognized the arrogance of power and position that ignored those of a supposed “lesser” worth.

Jesus singled out one of these “lesser” beings in the Temple as she placed the poorest of offerings in the treasury collection. No one else would have noticed. Her sum was paltry. Jesus did not value her gift, however, as would we. He judged what the gift meant to her. No one else would notice the value of such an offering. There was here no pretense. There was no flash and show. Here was sincerity before God, with none else needing to know. In her gift was the sacrifice and trust lacking in the bounty given by many of wealth.

Sometimes god has to change our attitudes toward others. We assess others’ importance according to how the world determines worth. We look at position, wealth, external morality, reputation, and heritage. God uses a different scale, assessing our inner motivation. We had to overcome Baptist stereotypes and prejudices to work among the Traditionalists. We had to ignore voices telling us it was inappropriate. We had to ignore concerns for our own reputation. As we stepped out in faith to minister to those beyond the church, we saw the attitudes of others change as well. How does God want to change our attitudes toward outsiders? Do we exclude God from working through “improper means” or among people of “lesser worth”?

God is not so concerned with our failings. Hebrews would remind us of that, if we would listen closely. Christ Jesus gave his life and died for the express purpose of dealing once and for all with our sin and failure. He will return again, but not according to the pre-tribulation wrath characterized by the Left Behind chronicles and popular Armageddon theologies. His return is rather to redeem those living the hope of the gospel. Sin is a dead issue. It holds no power to block us from fellowship with God. Jesus has already reckoned with that. The question is whether we will set it aside to live the gospel hope of Christ’s return for our redemption.

We have repeatedly heard a gospel of divine wrath regarding sin. We have learned to view our failings as barriers to becoming useful to Christ’s kingdom. We talk about grace, but live as though we were under the constraints of law. It is not God who gives so much importance to our failures. We do. We see our shortcomings, failures, disgraces, and sin. We see the failings of others. We point fingers to disqualify one another as worthy servants. In the process we invalidate the point of grace. God is not in the business of disqualifying people. God’s purpose is to redeem us from our failings to offer hope to a troubled and otherwise worthless world.

My official main task in Brazil was theological education by extension. Some wanted me only in the seminary with students called to full-time ministry. My job was taking theological education beyond the seminary walls. I prepared lay leaders to preach and do theology without the constraints of call and degree. Some were concerned. They were not comfortable with non-pastors preaching. They were uncomfortable with teaching theology to the non-ordained. Some pastors encouraged their members to take the course. Rather than protecting their turf, they encouraged their members to learn to do theology and share their faith in whatever situation arose. One church opened five preaching points, with non-ordained church members taking leadership.

If the future of Central Baptist Church depends upon Chris’ and Karen’s qualities and abilities as your pastors, we need to close up shop now. If we are ready to allow Christ to use our imperfections to share grace to a hurting world all around us, we have a real and ready hope. Does grace impact others through each of us? Do we trust God to make good use of imperfect servants like us?

—©2006 Christopher B. Harbin