Living Under Sealed Orders
Hebrews 11:8-10
You may not realize how many parallels there are between my former
life as a dashingly handsome, international spy and my current life
as a meek, mild-mannered follower of Jesus
Just as a couple of examples:
-as a secret agent, I drove a Maserati that would do 185 m.p.h.
--now I drive a
Toyota Echo that goes from 0-60...sometimes
-as counter-terrorism specialist, I carried dozens of different
passports and i.d. cards that enabled me to slip in and out of
every country in the world
--now, because my wife works for the school district, she shares
her activity pass with me, giving me unlimited access to every
middle and high school sporting event in the M.E.C.
-in the secret world of intelligence, I have been kidnapped and held
against my will for days at a time
--today—as the poster boy for counter-intelligence—I consider
myself lucky to have survived a dozen or more youth lock-ins
-as a spy, my life was always on the line...I can’t tell you how many
times I have stared down the receiving end of a weapon held by
someone who’d just as soon get rid of me
--as a pastor, I can’t tell you how many times I have moderated
a Baptist business meeting
The most striking parallel between the world of espionage and the
world of faith is the routine practice of working under sealed orders
-I’d get a call, let’s say, with instructions to go to the park and sit on
the bench nearest the horseshoe pits...there I would wait for a
man to approach me and ask, “Not counting Brooks Robinson,
who is the greatest defensive third baseman of all time?”
--I was not ever to say, “Scott Rolen” because that would be too
obvious...instead I would say, “There are 27 (Scotty’s uniform
number) redbirds perched on the arch and singing “We Are
the Champions”
---the man would reply, “Doug Denkinger cost us ’86.”
--I would say, “Amen to that, brother.”...then he’d hand me a
sealed envelope...and whisper, “Open this tomorrow morning
just inside the east doors of
---I wouldn’t know what I was doing or where I was going
other than to catch the next flight to
there I would discover the next step in my assignment
Now I don’t go to the park or to
-I go to Scripture
--but contrary to popular opinion, the Bible isn’t some secret code
to riches or fame...and it isn’t a road map detailing my every
decision—even though there are times I wish it were
-Scripture sometimes gives me (and you) clear orders, like “Thou
shalt not commit adultery.”
--but more often than not, the Bible gives us directions that are,
shall we say, slightly more vague, such as “...whatever you do,
do it all for the glory of God.”
---both commands are good and true and right...it’s just that
the latter is much more complex in figuring out what God
means exactly
-or you may know, for example, that God has given you the ability to
work with numbers and run a business...and you know you are to
glorify God with whatever you do...
--so does that mean God wants you to start a business in
involved in a local church...and be a godly example for your
customers and employees?
--or does that mean God wants you to move to the city where
there are many more people who need to hear about Jesus...
and where you can give jobs and second chances to people
who desperately need both?
--or does it mean that God wants you to use your skills to serve
overseas as part of a missionary team...or to go into nations
that are officially “closed” to missionaries, but are wide “open”
for American business people?
What do you do? Upon what basis do you make your decision?
-earnings potential?
-safety and comfort?
-best schools for your children?
-possible impact for God’s kingdom? how do you measure that?
How in the world do you even know where or how to begin?
And, by the way, would it be that big of a deal for God to make the
path just a tad clearer?
Funny thing is—God tends not to do that...not for us, not even for the superstars of the faith
Read Hebrews 11:1, 6, 8-10
Funny, right?
-yeah, I’m sure you could hear Abraham laughing the entire trip
-God’s instructions to Abraham are both plain and ambiguous
--Genesis
12:1 à The
Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country,
your people, and your father’s household [that’s the clear part]
and go to the land I will show you.” [and that’s the vague part]
-God’s calling requires complete surrender—for Abram to turn his
back on everything and everyone familiar...not to mention the
plans he has made for himself...surely Abram has dreams...and
surely they don’t include this one-way, no-looking-back little
journey off to only-God-knows-where (literally)...Abraham has no
back-up plan
--this little trip isn’t like exploring some trails at Windermere
---this was Lewis & Clark, edge of the world kinda’ stuff
And the astounding thing about it is that after God vows to bless him
and to make him a blessing, the first reaction we get from Abraham
is recorded in v. 4 à So Abram left, as the Lord had told him
-no map, no GPS, no cell phone, not even a destination...just a
blurry, but certain promise from God, “I will show you.”
--to me, that’s not much, but evidently to Abram it’s enough
Remember how Hebrews 11:8 describes Abraham’s response?
-he obeyed and went...or you could understand
it as: he obeyed by
going...because obedience must be demonstrated
--Scripture doesn’t tell us of any questioning or doubting on his
part (if there were any)...God calls, he answers...God points
kinda’ to the SSW, and Abraham starts the caravan
-imagine his wife, Sarah, asking, “Abe, where in the world are we
going? Would it hurt, just once, for you to stop and ask somebody
for directions?”
-J.B. Phillips translation à he set
out in complete ignorance...
--remember, poor Sarah doesn’t hear God’s call like her husband
did...she has to trust Abraham, too...which, frankly, is a rather
frightening prospect
But here’s the thing about Abraham’s faith journey—it’s not the
packing up and saying good-bye to your family and your friends and
your home that’s the tough part
-I’ve personally had to do that a couple of times
--going to
--leaving
away in the
U-Haul, headed for
not
speaking to me until we were well past
--leaving the
Air Force for seminary...and seminary for
and
As difficult as that may be, I’ll tell you that without a doubt the more
difficult part is believing that I’ve actually heard God right...that I am
truly doing what He wants
-if God speaks only to Abraham, what independent confirmation
does he have?
-if God speaks only to Moses, does he know Pharaoh will let his
people go?
-if God speaks
only to Joshua, how is he sure
-if God speaks only to David, how confident is he in his aim?
--are you beginning to see a pattern?
These, and other heroes of the faith—like Elijah, Nehemiah, Esther,
and Daniel—they are all just common people with faults and
blemishes and big-time sins...in other words, just like us...but they
have an uncommon faith
-which is pretty much the point of the entire 11th chapter of Hebrews
Look at Hebrews 11:8...how
does Abraham obey? why? faith!
Look at the next verse...when the promised land doesn’t turn out
quite the way Abraham probably dreams...how and why is he
able then to be satisfied living in a tent, and never in a palace?
-I mean if God promises to make you into a great nation...and to
make your name great...don’t you think you’d eventually get tired
of dirt floors and start griping just a little?
If you ever think God has made a mistake—remember Abraham
living in a tent in the so-called promised land...living under sealed
orders...living by faith
If you ever think you’ve made a mistake—that this whole following
God thing hasn’t turned out to be “your best life now”—remember
Abraham living in a tent in the so-called promised land...living under
sealed orders...living by faith
If nothing seems to make sense...if you feel pulled in eleventy-billion
different directions—remember Abraham living in a tent in the so-
called promised land...living under sealed orders...living by faith
Living under sealed orders means that your trust isn’t in the orders,
but rather in the One who issued them
-a secret spy mission may not make much sense because you
don’t have the complete picture
-God calling you to go somewhere or to stay somewhere may not
make much sense because you don’t have the eternal, Kingdom
perspective God has
--and while it’s true that you may sometimes understand later—
hear this clearly—there is no such promise in Scripture...and
that means sometimes God leads in ways and to places and
for reasons we may never comprehend
---but to one who has surrendered her or his life to God, this
is just one of the acceptable risks...in fact, it’s expected...
and it’s ok (even if your family/friends do think you’re nuts)
I learned a valuable lesson just a few months after I finished
seminary, was ordained to the ministry, and accepted God’s call to
my first church
-during some sort of church-wide conversation we were searching
for some clear direction about a critical aspect of our ministry
--when all eyes and ears turned to me, I said, “I don’t know.”
When the meeting was over, a deacon offered some counsel
-he said, “Brother James, you are the pastor. People look to you for
guidance and leadership. You cannot say, ‘I don’t know.’ People
need to trust you to follow you, and they cannot trust someone
who admits he doesn’t know.”
I learned a lot from that moment
-first of all, it’s spooky-kinda’-similar to a scene from the film, U-571
-more importantly, I learned that for all his good intentions, the
deacon is just plain wrong
I frequently refer to this timeless quote of Thomas Merton à God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
I’m convinced Merton is right—not only because it has been my
personal experience—but because I understand Scripture to reveal
that living under sealed orders means that you won’t always have a
clue what to do next...it means the answers often are neither easy
nor are they automatic...
In fact, the deacon’s advice is less in line with Scripture and more in
tune with the corporate model that many churches have bought into
-let me assure you of this
--if a church’s self-written mission statement dictates what they
can and can’t do...if a church’s marketing and image
management are more important than their ministry and
missions...if a church defines its target audience more narrowly
than
a church’s pastor is more a CEO than a pastor...if we sacrifice
faith on the altar of sensibility and practicality...if we worship
the idol of efficiency...if we disregard the casualties left in our
path toward progress and success...
---if we...well, I could go on and on, but then it might sound
like I’m preaching
The truth is that I don’t have blueprints for 2007
-God holds the only set of plans...and at this point, I don’t even know
what I’m going to have for lunch, much less some vast, detailed
vision for our church
--I can make something up...toss out some sound bites at a
press conference, call it a sermon, and claim that God has
spoken to me and given me a revelation
-but I’m not going to do that this morning...because it’s not true
I’ve come to the realization that we’re just going to have to get used
to the fact that for the most part we live under sealed orders...and
living that way requires plain ol’ faith
-the good news is that God has given us His written Word—which
is more like a compass than a Mapquest printout
---and He has given us the Living Word—Jesus—who has
shown us perfectly how the written Word is to be lived
And here we stand on the threshold of a new year
-a year that will no doubt bring changes we cannot foresee
--sure, we know babies will be born
--we know people will die—some before we think it’s time
--we know there will be war, tragedy, and losses
--we know we will face challenges
---there will be weddings and, sadly, divorces
---my daughter will get her driver’s license
---my son will graduate and go off to college
--we are all a little like Paul in Acts 20...we are going into the
future and we do not know what will happen there...but we do
know it will not always be good (in fact, in the next chapter,
Paul is beaten by a mob of Jews, arrested by the Romans,
bound into chains, thrown into jail, and then 40 men vowed not
to eat or drink until they had killed him)
But in all of that, we also trust God remains at work
Read Romans 8-28-39
We know that by living under sealed orders, there is only one way
face a new day...by faith alone in Christ alone
-Hebrews 11:6 warns us without faith it is impossible to please God
--and that verse goes on to spell out that faith involves two things
---anyone who comes to Him must believe that He
exists
---and
that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him
*What a tremendous way to walk into, run into, or dive into the next
year...by coming to God in faith...trusting in Him alone
*By coming back to Him...offering Him your broken faith
*By linking with others of faith...acknowledging that we are not meant
to journey alone