Confidence Ordained

Psalm 16; Mark 13:1-8; Hebrews 10:11-25

Central Baptist Church, Lowesville, VA

19 November 2006

As Christians, we are comfortable proclaiming the fact of God’s greatness. We are bold to state before the world that God is all-powerful as Creator. We have confidence in our descriptions about God. All too often, however, our proclamations regard external truths we accept but do not allow to impact our lives. We profess assurance in God, but do we live the assurance we adamantly profess? The world is not so interested in what we know about God. God cares more for how our faith plays out in action.

We delight in repeating the psalmist’s words. God is our refuge, our counsel, our delight, and security. In Yahweh’s presence there is fullness of joy! Such words and phrases are comforting, tending toward soothing us from distress and quieting the issues of the real world. We use the phrases as retreat, but how does their truth infect our faith with courage? How does it impact our service to God amid the daily grind and pressures of living?

Growing up in Brazil from age two, I was very comfortable with my skills in Portuguese. At fourteen, I was called on to interpret for a partnership missions team. Visitation in homes was going well, but while interpreting for an evening service, I realized I was over my head. I spoke both English and Portuguese well, but I was having difficulty thinking quickly enough and finding the right words. I was about ready to throw in the towel when I realized that I was going about interpreting the wrong way. It was more than I could handle, but it was not more than God could handle. What I needed to do was step aside and allow God to work through me, even in spite of me. I was limiting what God was could do in my life by relying on my own ability. I was not trusting God and the promise of God’s presence, faithfulness, and power. When I made room for God to act through me, God made all the difference.

The disciples were awed by the temple buildings. The construction was a sight to behold. Stones used to erect the walls were enormous, and the temple site area was equivalent to six football fields laid side by side. There was grounds for their amazement. Jesus was not enthralled. He was unconcerned with the magnificence of the structure. He was concerned about faithfulness and preparation to meet the coming stresses of persecution, suffering, and loss. Rather than institutional religious structures, Jesus was concerned with the personal reality of individual faith. He was concerned with the human response to God, not the visible product of human engineering.

The future held destruction, war, famine, strife, and persecution. These would become much greater issues than the temple they beheld. The temple itself would be utterly destroyed. Jesus was not worried about the buildings, but about the disciples’ faithfulness in the aftermath. Many would arise in political revolt, concerned over politics for which Jesus cared little. They would focus on symbols of material accomplishment, while Jesus called for a focus on the spiritual. Would the disciples live according to God’s commission or be caught up by worldly concerns?

A seminary student was concerned for taking the gospel to her home city. There was no Baptist presence there, and she wanted missionaries to begin a church in her town of 15,000 people. Resources were stretched too thin. The state convention was prioritizing cities larger than 20,000 with no Baptist presence. I talked with my students about transforming 5000 Baptists into 5000 Baptist churches. She came to me and said, “I have been looking for someone more qualified to reach my city for Christ. I have finally realized that it is up to me to take Christ to my city. I need to trust God to work through me.” While she looked to denominational structures, God wanted her. God wanted her actions to reflect Jesus’ commission. Do we accept the commission? Does our confidence in God bring others to faith?

Hebrews makes some astounding claims. The world as a whole considered God’s presence and attention both difficult and dangerous to attain. Mostly, people did not want God’s attention—they were afraid of it. On the other hand, they desired to bend the ear of one or another god, perhaps even the Almighty. For this, there were all sorts of regulations and prescriptions for worship and sacrifice. They must go about things in a precise way to gain a positive divine attention. They Jews were more confident than many peoples in divine benevolence, but they were still much more comfortable keeping God at a safe distance. Our writer abolishes distance in claims about Jesus Christ.

The destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. was meaningless to this writer, for Jesus had abolished any need for the temple. It was there for ritual and sacrifice to make God safe and semi-approachable. One could use the temple services to gain God’s pacified and mediated attention. Jesus abolished any need for mediation, bringing believers directly into God’s full presence—no mediation or placation required. Sin is no longer a concern, since Jesus abolished its effect as a barrier before God. We are granted a new confidence to know God intimately and live in God’s full presence and immediacy.

There is responsibility with this gift. There is purpose behind it. We must still struggle to eradicate sin from our lives, allowing God to mold our will. Through Christ, however, we do this through God’s power, not our own. We are to live fully in God’s presence, encouraging others to join us in this new quality of fellowship with God. It is living in the fullness of God’s presence that grants us the power to fulfill God’s will in our lives.

Because we have access to God’s throne, we have access to God’s resources. We need not worry with structures like the destroyed temple in Jerusalem. We need not worry over decaying religious institutions built in a past generation. God does not require buildings, organizations, agencies, boards, and humanly recognized structures to advance Christ’s reign. God requires simple people who will set their lives aside to serve as faithful ambassadors of Christ Jesus, calling the world into God’s presence.

We left Rio Grande do Sul in distress. We had slowly watched our missionary agency shift focus from empowering missionaries to demanding conformity. We saw national believers facing critical financial crises within their struggling institutions. We had challenged a struggling faith community to trust God to enable them to reach a population of 10,000,000 with the gospel of Christ. Then we had to step out of the picture. Didn’t God need me there in Rio Grande do Sul? Wasn’t my ministry absolutely necessary for fulfilling God’s purposes? The answer was, “No.”

God did not send us due to our potential, but as messengers to point to God’s potential. God’s plan, however, was not just to use us, but to awaken others through us. Some were depending on our presence or their institutional structures. I needed to trust God’s sufficiency to work through others. With our leaving, others began relying on God’s sufficiency to work through them.

Many issues facing Baptists in Rio Grande do Sul are similar to those in rural Virginia. While denominational structures face growing pressures, churches struggle to keep their doors open. We can no longer rely on structures we built in the past. We live confident of God’s using us, instead. Do we expect God to make a difference through us? We were ordained for just that mission.

—©2006 Christopher B. Harbin