Hope as an Opportunity for Mission and Spiritual Growth

Hope as an Opportunity for Mission and Spiritual Growth

Good Morning Friends,

We have a big sign saying Welcome at Moorings, but for people facing discouraging situations, I am not sure we are a place for them to focus attention beyond their own existence and survival. We are not a poor or marginalize congregation. Though the poor might use the facility we remain a bit isolated. Little of the budget is focused outward. So people take money not dedicated to the church to do mission work in places like Guatemala and Immokalee and Haiti. Perhaps we have yet to discover our true collective call to ministry. Perhaps we need to look beyond our sanctuary walls and the labels we Christians give one another. Then we would have a great opening to really welcome those who have no power — those who feel weak into the Body of Christ. So today we explore the promise of God to do something with our lives when we journey with others in difficult times. Maybe you think it is about health. Maybe you think it is about finances or relationships. But it is not about what you want to accomplish but what God has in mind. You will know something is up when you begin to ask questions like: How did I get here? What am I supposed to do? And what comes next? Today we explore how God sets us free with Hope as an Opportunity for Mission and Spiritual Growth.

Scripture: ¹⁵From there I will give her her vineyards, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

Hosea 2:15 (NRSV)

²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, ²³but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NRSV)

Message: Paul’s message in today’s scripture might be a bit of a shock. It is counter culturally against the ideas we have been raised to support. It runs counter to our society’s values of how we should invest. It says that God does not invest in many that are wise, mighty and noble. God invests in people that, when all is said and done, will acknowledge that it was only by the grace of God that they survive. All the credit goes to God. Against this message we have a passage from Hosea, a book with four characters: A man named Hosea… his wife Gomer… the rebellious nation of Israel… and God. In both passages we see how God uses the ordinary, the intimidated and inadequate to accomplish His purpose. The Hosea story is about the relationship between God and His people. We see God’s pain for His rebellious bride Israel, and His invitation to repent and return to Him. This is mirrored in the life of Hosea and Gomer. It is an invitation of healing and restoration. But it is also about warnings and the possibility of a severe mercy. It is about a desert experience preparing us for what God has in store for us. It is about accepting a life-changing opportunity to have a relationship with God. It is about a personal transformation in our desert experiences shared for a purpose with others. No, you and I are not Moses with a simple shepherd’s rod, or Samson with the jawbone of an ass, or David with a slingshot. We are not Rahab, a prostitute, Ruth, a Moabite foreigner or Mary an unwed mother to be. But God is still God and we can depend on Him to use whatever simple things are around to accomplish His will. He takes our weakness and gives us His strength in return. Friends, God will take our need and pour in His supply. God will take our limited view and give us His sight.  God created the earth out of the formless void. Maybe everything we hope for is closer than we think.

Pray we experience God in our desert experiences and blessings of abundance. Pray we realize that God chooses the timing for everything. Pray we take out of our eyes those things that blind us and discover the door of hope before us in relationship with those people society marginalizes. Pray we embrace the perspective that all things work together for those who are called according to God’s purpose. Pray we wait for God’s opportunity. Pray we trust Him to help us see that God has chosen what the world calls foolish to shame the wise…Pray we realize that He has chosen the weak to shame the strong. Pray we realize that God has chosen things of little strength and small repute….even things which have no real recognized existence to explode the pretensions of the things that are. Pray we find our calling and discover the beauty of simple small things in life’s desert experiences as well as magnificent glorious things this season of hope.

Blessings,

John Lawson