Filtered by May 2012
Expecting Great Things From God
I’ve heard it said that hopelessness is one of the most ungodly things in the world. We don’t often think of this as ranking high on the things that God doesn’t want us to do, but it’s true. Hopelessness—that sinking feeling that things will never change, never improve, and that there is nothing better that lies in the future—is offensive to God because it reveals that we really don’t know him, that we don’t believe that he is who he says he is, and that we don’t trust that he has the power to change in us what we cannot seem to change in ourselves, no matter how hard we try.
This hopelessness can easily creep from the inner recesses of our soul into all other areas of our life, including how we participate in our communal life together as the people of God. Have you ever come to church hopeless? Have you ever showed up expecting nothing more than to sing a few “pick me up” songs, hear someone talk about the Bible for a bit and maybe you learn something, maybe you don’t, and then go home right back to your same habits, feelings, and things you wish could be different.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, one of the greatest preachers of the last century in Britain, brought into sharp relief the darkness of this particular strain of hopelessness that plagues so many people in church today:
Possibly one of the most devastating things that can happen to us as Christians is that we cease to expect anything to happen. I am not sure but that this is not one of our greatest troubles today. We come to our services and they are orderly, they are nice ‒ we come, we go ‒ and sometimes they are timed almost to the minute, and there it is. But that is not Christianity, my friend. Where is the Lord of glory? Where is the one sitting by the well? Are we expecting him? Do we anticipate this? Are we open to it? Are we aware that we are ever facing this glorious possibility of having the greatest surprise of our life? —Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Nothing breaks through hopelessness like true encounter with the living God, the Lord of Glory, the King of surprises. And we have every right to expect that when you encounter God, that he will change us. That he will reshape us. That we don’t have to be stuck cycling through the same sins, the same fears, reacting the same way to things in life.
The problem is that we often reverse our expectations. We think that God expects things of us that we need to do by ourselves. And so we try and fail. Try and fail. Try and fail. Then lose hope because nothing changes. If only I prayed more...if only I could stop doing this sin... if only I made greater sacrifices. But the truth is that God knows who we are, he know that we aren’t any good at changing ourselves. The problem is that many of us don’t really know who God is—that he is the one who has better things in store for us than we can imagine for ourselves and that he is the one who has the power to bring it about. The Apostle Paul writes that God,
Ephesians 3:20
...is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
God is both able and knows what he’s doing better than you or me.
So here’s the truth: God knows who we are, but do we know who he is? He knew us through and through when he chose us, when he called us, and when he loved us into relationship with him. God is not expecting things from us, it is us who are to be expecting things from him. That’s how it works. Our job is to come before God with radical expectation for him to work powerfully in us and through us, for his own glory, so that we might join Paul in proclaiming,
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Paul said this not because of how great he was, but because of how great God is. So no matter who you are, you can still have confident expectation in God, because it is totally based off of him, not you.
“Be confident in expecting great things from God, for though you may be unworthy, and grace will show you your own unworthiness, yet you stand upon the righteousness of Christ.” —Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification
So how does this happen? How can you increase your expectation of God working in your life? Start with your expectation of God’s presence and power displayed in the midst of his people, the church. Instead of simply showing up to go through the motions of religion, start thinking about church the way that the author of Hebrews thought about church:
Hebrews 12:22-25
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
If we begin to open the eyes of our hearts to see beyond the lights, the music, the order of service, to see the living God in the midst of his people, we would begin to experience the awesome power of the Lord of Glory bringing change and hope and healing to every area of life. The author of Hebrews concludes that if we do so, if we recognize what is really happening when we gather to call on the name of the Lord, we get more than we could ever hope for: the consuming fire of God!
Hebrews 12:28-29
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”