[The following is a full manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 1st of May, 2016. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
You’ve heard me say before that everything in the Bible points to Jesus. Even the Old Testament books - which some consider nothing more than a history lesson leading up to Christianity… even the Old Testament paints a beautiful portrait of Jesus. It speaks of Him before He took human form. It foreshadows His earthly life. And yes, it gives us some history so that we can understand what led up to God’s greatest gift to mankind.
But one of the neatest things about the Old Testament is that it provides us with God’s word, directed to us as given voice by His prophets. God speaks to us through the Old Testament prophets, instructing us, rebuking us, telling us how to be righteous in His eyes.
Listen and follow along as I read to you from the book of the greatest of prophets, Isaiah, chapter 54 verses 1 through 5, from the New King James Version…
But one of the neatest things about the Old Testament is that it provides us with God’s word, directed to us as given voice by His prophets. God speaks to us through the Old Testament prophets, instructing us, rebuking us, telling us how to be righteous in His eyes.
Listen and follow along as I read to you from the book of the greatest of prophets, Isaiah, chapter 54 verses 1 through 5, from the New King James Version…
1 “Sing, O barren,
You who have not borne!
Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
You who have not labored with child!
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords,
And strengthen your stakes.
3 "For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
And your descendants will inherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited.
4 “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
5 "For your Maker is your husband,
The Lord of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called the God of the whole earth."
--Isaiah 54:1-5 (NKJV)
Let us pray… Father God, we have come together this morning to worship You and to receive the message You have for us this day. Lord God, please enable us to discern Your will for us from Your word and our meditations. In the name of Your blessed Son Jesus we pray. Amen.
Most of you know of my background in science, and I know some of you have a similar history. Let’s talk science for a just bit, because so many people think science and Christianity are not compatible.
Dr. Stephen Hawking is a world renowned physicist and noted atheist that many consider to be the most intelligent man alive. He calculated that if the rate of the universe’s expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have collapsed into a fireball. British physicist P. C. W. Davies has concluded the odds against the initial conditions being suitable for the formation of stars – a necessity for planets and thus for life – is a one followed by at least a thousand billion zeroes. Davies also estimated that if the strength of gravity or of what is called the weak force were changed by only one part in a ten followed by a hundred zeroes, life could never have developed.
There are about fifty constants and quantities – for example, the amount of useable energy in the universe, the difference in mass between protons and neutrons, the ratios of the fundamental forces of nature, and the proportion of matter to antimatter – that must be balanced to a mathematically infinitesimal degree for any life to be possible. And yet, here we are.
Let me remove the science-speak and try that again. If what scientists like to call the Big Bang had been even slightly less violent, the expansion of the universe would have been less rapid and it would have quickly collapsed back in upon itself. If that event had been slightly more violent, the universe could have been dispersed into a soup too thin to coalesce into stars, let alone to form planets. The odds against life were - and this is absolutely the right word - astronomical. Yet here we are.
How can anyone still think that all this just happened by random chance, a happy accident? How can they not understand that the Big Bang occurred when, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."?
In my opinion, the Big Bang was all about God stretching out His realm and creating the natural world, to make room for His creation, including mankind. He made room for us to grow. He wanted us to be fruitful and multiply and we sure got that one down pat. But there are other ways to grow, and other ways to stretch out. How are we doing in those areas?
You’ll notice in the picture on the screens that some rubber bands are being stretched. This appears to be a difficult task, that the hands might be struggling a bit to stretch the bands. Why is that? Because as we stretch things, the tendency is for them to snap back into their original shape and size.
Of course if we keep them stretched out long enough, that will become their normal shape and size, as my belly can attest to. But the thing is, sometimes we meet some pretty fierce resistance when we try to stretch things. And sometimes, if we’re not careful, they’ll snap right back in our faces.
The trick is to stretch slowly, and hold the new shape for a while to let it settle in. We have to be strong against the resistance so we don’t fall back to the point we started from.
God, through His prophet Isaiah, tells us we need to enlarge the place of our tent, stretch out the curtains of our dwellings, lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes. Put in more familiar terms, He wants us increase our reach, our capability of extending our ministry further into the world.
The place of our tent is this building, these grounds. Is God saying to enlarge our sanctuary, maybe buy up some more property and get into construction mode? No, I don’t think so. I think He means for us to expand beyond these grounds, to stretch our curtains out into the greater community, lengthening our cords, all the while keeping our stakes strengthened that hold us firmly to His word and to Jesus our Lord.
Now I’ve already said the natural tendency for stretching is snapping back. What are some of the forces that work to keep us from stretching out? What are some of the hindrances to expansion?
One might simply be misunderstanding. For instance, it kind of sounds like the 1st verse of our scripture reading is talking about childless women. But it’s not. It is addressed to Christians, even though it was written long before Christ walked this earth. And it speaks of all the people in this world who do not know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. There are far more who don’t than we who do.
And that is why we, Christ’s church, need to enlarge the place of our tent! We need to carry our ministry into the world and let God and His Holy Spirit do the real work of expansion, of bringing the lost back to Jesus. God says our descendants, those we touch, will inherit the nations, will bring the cities desolated by sin back to life in Christ.
Another hindrance may be our own reluctance to change, to enlarge the place of our tent. Fear of the unknown is a powerful force. We may be afraid to move, content with what we have. We prefer simply maintaining the status quo, doing the same things we’re used to doing.
God already addressed this, though, through His servant Moses during the Israelites’ long journey through the wilderness. In Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 6 He tells us…
Most of you know of my background in science, and I know some of you have a similar history. Let’s talk science for a just bit, because so many people think science and Christianity are not compatible.
Dr. Stephen Hawking is a world renowned physicist and noted atheist that many consider to be the most intelligent man alive. He calculated that if the rate of the universe’s expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have collapsed into a fireball. British physicist P. C. W. Davies has concluded the odds against the initial conditions being suitable for the formation of stars – a necessity for planets and thus for life – is a one followed by at least a thousand billion zeroes. Davies also estimated that if the strength of gravity or of what is called the weak force were changed by only one part in a ten followed by a hundred zeroes, life could never have developed.
There are about fifty constants and quantities – for example, the amount of useable energy in the universe, the difference in mass between protons and neutrons, the ratios of the fundamental forces of nature, and the proportion of matter to antimatter – that must be balanced to a mathematically infinitesimal degree for any life to be possible. And yet, here we are.
Let me remove the science-speak and try that again. If what scientists like to call the Big Bang had been even slightly less violent, the expansion of the universe would have been less rapid and it would have quickly collapsed back in upon itself. If that event had been slightly more violent, the universe could have been dispersed into a soup too thin to coalesce into stars, let alone to form planets. The odds against life were - and this is absolutely the right word - astronomical. Yet here we are.
How can anyone still think that all this just happened by random chance, a happy accident? How can they not understand that the Big Bang occurred when, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."?
In my opinion, the Big Bang was all about God stretching out His realm and creating the natural world, to make room for His creation, including mankind. He made room for us to grow. He wanted us to be fruitful and multiply and we sure got that one down pat. But there are other ways to grow, and other ways to stretch out. How are we doing in those areas?
You’ll notice in the picture on the screens that some rubber bands are being stretched. This appears to be a difficult task, that the hands might be struggling a bit to stretch the bands. Why is that? Because as we stretch things, the tendency is for them to snap back into their original shape and size.
Of course if we keep them stretched out long enough, that will become their normal shape and size, as my belly can attest to. But the thing is, sometimes we meet some pretty fierce resistance when we try to stretch things. And sometimes, if we’re not careful, they’ll snap right back in our faces.
The trick is to stretch slowly, and hold the new shape for a while to let it settle in. We have to be strong against the resistance so we don’t fall back to the point we started from.
God, through His prophet Isaiah, tells us we need to enlarge the place of our tent, stretch out the curtains of our dwellings, lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes. Put in more familiar terms, He wants us increase our reach, our capability of extending our ministry further into the world.
The place of our tent is this building, these grounds. Is God saying to enlarge our sanctuary, maybe buy up some more property and get into construction mode? No, I don’t think so. I think He means for us to expand beyond these grounds, to stretch our curtains out into the greater community, lengthening our cords, all the while keeping our stakes strengthened that hold us firmly to His word and to Jesus our Lord.
Now I’ve already said the natural tendency for stretching is snapping back. What are some of the forces that work to keep us from stretching out? What are some of the hindrances to expansion?
One might simply be misunderstanding. For instance, it kind of sounds like the 1st verse of our scripture reading is talking about childless women. But it’s not. It is addressed to Christians, even though it was written long before Christ walked this earth. And it speaks of all the people in this world who do not know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. There are far more who don’t than we who do.
And that is why we, Christ’s church, need to enlarge the place of our tent! We need to carry our ministry into the world and let God and His Holy Spirit do the real work of expansion, of bringing the lost back to Jesus. God says our descendants, those we touch, will inherit the nations, will bring the cities desolated by sin back to life in Christ.
Another hindrance may be our own reluctance to change, to enlarge the place of our tent. Fear of the unknown is a powerful force. We may be afraid to move, content with what we have. We prefer simply maintaining the status quo, doing the same things we’re used to doing.
God already addressed this, though, through His servant Moses during the Israelites’ long journey through the wilderness. In Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 6 He tells us…
6 “When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough.’”
--Deuteronomy 1:6 (NLT)
We’ve stayed in this place long enough. It’s time to move on. Not necessarily this physical place, but this ideological place. We need to move out of the mindset that this is our place in the world and we’re happy here doing what we do, what we’ve been doing for years. No, God has other things for us to do, other places to go, all to carry out our commission of making disciples and spreading the Gospel.
Another resistance to be reckoned with is our worry of how the world will react to us if we step out into it. We’ve seen how modern culture treats Christianity, and it isn’t very pretty. At best we can expect sneers and derision, at worst pain and suffering, even death at the hands of a world that cares not for Jesus. All of this can easily make us ashamed of our belief in Jesus as Christ, fearful of rejection and scorn.
God has foreseen this resistance, too, and encourages us through the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, the 1st chapter and the 16th verse…
What is there to fear? What is there to be ashamed of? We, as believers, have the full power of God right here within us, because His Holy Spirit lives in us! Verse 4 of our scripture reading this morning clearly tells us not to fear being shamed. We will not be disgraced, neither for our current belief nor for whatever our past might hold.
God tells us to stretch out, to move from this place and expand our horizons. But our natural tendency is to stay in place. Science has a term for that: inertia. Or we start to do something new and things don’t go exactly as we’d like and we snap back to our old ways.
Family, we must continue to move forward even against those forces that would pull us back. We must strain against inertia and resistance. For God promises us great things.
In the Gospel according to the Apostle Matthew, chapter 5 verses 14 through 16, Jesus tells us…
If we let others see our “light”, they will see Jesus, for He is the Light of the world. When they see our good works, they see Him in action. And it is all to glorify God our Father.
Family, we’re starting to stretch out. We’re doing more and more outside these walls. We’re including more of the greater community, even those we know will never join our church family but who still need our help. They still need to see Jesus and know He is there for them. We’re letting our light shine brighter and brighter.
Let’s not snap back into our old ways, but forge ever ahead. Expanding the place of our tent, keeping our cords and stakes strong that bind us to Jesus. Stretching out, so we can take in more. Just as Jesus did.
Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, in our flesh and in our thoughts, growing can often be painful. Stretching out can hurt, and too often it all just snaps back in our faces, and that hurts even more. We know, Lord, that You want us to move from this place, that it’s time to get off our mountain and into the greater community around us. We’re doing that, Father, a little at a time. Help us keep making those baby steps. Help us resist the forces that oppose us. Help us strengthen our stakes that anchor us firmly to You even as we lengthen our cords to reach further out.
Hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, confessing our sins and seeking Your comfort and strength…
Lord Jesus, You are the Light of the world. You have given us God’s Holy Spirit to live within us and to empower us to do great things in Your name. May Your light shine through us and brighten the path of all those we meet, so that they too might come to know You as Lord. It is in Your glorious name, dear Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Another resistance to be reckoned with is our worry of how the world will react to us if we step out into it. We’ve seen how modern culture treats Christianity, and it isn’t very pretty. At best we can expect sneers and derision, at worst pain and suffering, even death at the hands of a world that cares not for Jesus. All of this can easily make us ashamed of our belief in Jesus as Christ, fearful of rejection and scorn.
God has foreseen this resistance, too, and encourages us through the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, the 1st chapter and the 16th verse…
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
--Romans 1:16 (NKJV)
God tells us to stretch out, to move from this place and expand our horizons. But our natural tendency is to stay in place. Science has a term for that: inertia. Or we start to do something new and things don’t go exactly as we’d like and we snap back to our old ways.
Family, we must continue to move forward even against those forces that would pull us back. We must strain against inertia and resistance. For God promises us great things.
In the Gospel according to the Apostle Matthew, chapter 5 verses 14 through 16, Jesus tells us…
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
--Matthew 5:14-16 (NKJV)
Family, we’re starting to stretch out. We’re doing more and more outside these walls. We’re including more of the greater community, even those we know will never join our church family but who still need our help. They still need to see Jesus and know He is there for them. We’re letting our light shine brighter and brighter.
Let’s not snap back into our old ways, but forge ever ahead. Expanding the place of our tent, keeping our cords and stakes strong that bind us to Jesus. Stretching out, so we can take in more. Just as Jesus did.
Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, in our flesh and in our thoughts, growing can often be painful. Stretching out can hurt, and too often it all just snaps back in our faces, and that hurts even more. We know, Lord, that You want us to move from this place, that it’s time to get off our mountain and into the greater community around us. We’re doing that, Father, a little at a time. Help us keep making those baby steps. Help us resist the forces that oppose us. Help us strengthen our stakes that anchor us firmly to You even as we lengthen our cords to reach further out.
Hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, confessing our sins and seeking Your comfort and strength…
Lord Jesus, You are the Light of the world. You have given us God’s Holy Spirit to live within us and to empower us to do great things in Your name. May Your light shine through us and brighten the path of all those we meet, so that they too might come to know You as Lord. It is in Your glorious name, dear Jesus, we pray. Amen.
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