TheoTrek — A Journey with God in Discipleship
Meets Expectations
Isaiah 55:1-9; Luke 13:1-9; 1st Corinthians 10:1-13
Central Baptist Church, Lowesville, VA
11 March 2007, Third Sunday of Lent
We live with all sorts of expectations. They come from many places. Society, government, school, church, family, and friends all have expectations for us. We are expected to vote, obey, study, work, tithe, cooperate, love, help, encourage, and pull our weight. There are expectations we place on ourselves and others. With so many voices clamoring for attention to their expectations, we cannot carry the burden of fulfilling so many demands. In the business world, “Meets Expectation” on a personnel review is not high praise. In life, “Meets Expectations” is an impossibility. Among all the varied expectations for us, whose voice will we allow to be the strongest guiding force in our lives?
Isaiah spoke of an empty search for fulfillment. He spoke of resources and energy wasted in ways that could not meet one’s needs. He spoke of misdirected attention and anxiety sapping energy amid God’s free offer to grant true satisfaction. Rather than accepting direction from Yahweh, the people ran in most any other direction to flee a perceived overpowering burden. In so doing, they fled true blessing, fulfillment, and satisfaction. Deep satisfaction could be found in following Yahweh’s will and trusting Yahweh’s provision. The people, however, were too anxious and afraid to accept what God had in store.
Isaiah declared that Yahweh’s expectations were less burdensome and granted the greatest satisfaction with life. The nation was too preoccupied to return to Yahweh in repentance. They misunderstood God’s expectations in light of their own character. They became angry and wanted revenge when others did not meet their expectations. They projected upon God their own unwillingness to forgive, fearing to return before Yahweh in repentance. Isaiah reminded them that Yahweh’s thoughts and ways are not like ours, for God is ever gracious and willing to forgive. Are we too fearful and proud to repent when we have strayed from God’s expectations?
Our economy is based on greed. It is powered by self-advancement at the expense of others. Any who get in our way on the ladder of success should expect being stepped on, tripped, or shoved aside for the sake of our own progress. In the dog-eat-dog world of business, those stepped on stew and brood in their desire to exact retribution upon those who have usurped their spot in the American dream. We pretend that success defined as reaching the top is attainable for all, yet we vie over the limited opportunities to wield success at another’s expense. Do we even know how to let go of our desperate attempts to attain society’s fleeting goal of success? Can we exchange self-centered retribution for the bounty and provision of God’s forgiveness?
Jesus spoke of the need for repentance and humility. It was a need common to all who did not meet God’s expectations. Many in his day were self-satisfied with their conduct. They followed the expectations of their traditions. He equated their living with uselessly taking up space, wasting the soil. Their self-satisfaction kept them from fulfilling God’s missional expectations for their living. They focused on their own benefit without benefiting those around them. While they reveled in comparing themselves to the more obviously condemnable by society’s standards, Jesus questions their fruitfulness in accord with God’s expectations.
We desire a world of retribution, where others pay for their mistakes, but God desires a world of grace and mercy. Deep down, we recognize that grace and mercy are what we really need. We are too often more concerned with looking good, however, than with getting on board with the course of what God has for us. The fig tree was not planted for foliage. It was planted for fruit. Producing fruit, however, saps a tree’s energy and strength. While a tree bears fruit, it cannot spare much strength for its own growth. It places its resources into growing and ripening its fruit, rather than extending its branches and leaves. If the tree does not produce, is it not wasting the soil on itself? Are our ambitions worthy of God’s expectations for our lives?
Coleen Burroughs challenged CBF of Virginia yesterday to adopt the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. There is nothing in this list of goals that we should not be working toward. They are in full concert with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are also issues that all too often we fail to address as the community of faith. Recognizing that we cannot accomplish it all, we fail to do our part in trying. 1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; Goal 2) Achieve universal primary education; Goal 3) Promote gender equality and empower women; Goal 4) Reduce child mortality; Goal 5) Improve maternal health; Goal 6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; Goal 7) Ensure environmental sustainability; Goal 8) Develop a global partnership for development.[1]
As a nation, we are too invested in increasing our own wealth to bother with these issues. As believers, we are too worried about meeting our own needs to give much effort to meeting the needs of those we do not know. Like the fig tree too concerned for increasing its foliage, we adopt expectations of self-advancement over purposeful ministry. CBF of Virginia set aside funds yesterday to begin addressing these goals. How far will we trust God’s grace to meet our needs?
Paul recognizes the weakened of our human condition. The Hebrews’ stories also spoke of the universality of sin and our need of repentance and forgiveness. The Hebrews were failures from the start, just as we have proved to be. As believers, we have allowed society to place us on a pedestal of perfection, as though Christians have no problems, anxieties, failures, conflicts, or addictions. Paul reminds us, however, that our temptations and weaknesses are just the normal struggles of human existence. The difference for believers should be a confident trust enabling our return to Christ in repentance, returning lordship of our lives back to the rightful Lord.
This is no cheap grace that Paul preaches. We are indeed responsible for our actions. We are seriously enjoined to give our lives to fully meet God’s expectations. Yet Paul recognizes that before God, “Meets Expectations” is a challenging beyond our natural grasp. This is where God enters the picture of our lives. Christ comes to us in recognition of our frailty, walking with us in this journey of faith. Christ offers forgiveness in our failings, along with strength and encouragement to return to the challenge of living according to God’s expectations and calling.
We have a choice as to whose expectations we will adopt as the guidelines for our lives. It can be a frightening thing to adopt God’s expectations. It is easier to list to the thousands of contrary voices that surround us daily. It is tempting not to trust God. It is tempting to trust the things we can see, hear, and touch. Our temptations are common. God understands them. God call us beyond them. Will we recognize God’s will as God’s supreme best for us? Will we work to meet God’s expectations?
—©2007 Christopher B. Harbin