Wild Goose Chase Series / Goose Bumps / May 26, 2013 What is the scaredest you have ever been? Is that a word, scaredest? Well, what is the most scared, the most afraid, you ve ever been? Now I m not talking about roller coasters or riding in my truck while I m driving, I m talking about real fear. Maybe they have done a biopsy and you are waiting for the results that can be scary; or maybe you just learned the results and they are not good. Maybe it s sitting in the waiting room while a wife or a kid is in surgery. That can be really hard. Maybe it s sitting across from her dad and asking his permission to marry his daughter. That ought to be scary. Or maybe it s saying I do. Or maybe it s reflecting later, What did I do? Or maybe you lost a job, and there is no money, and there are people depending on you, and you don t know what to do. Or maybe it was the day he walked out and left you with the kids. We have soldiers here who have been in war. Maybe you re thinking about a time you were shot at, or mortared, or shelled. My son tells me it was the first time in Iraq they were told to put on their gas masks fast! Maybe for some of you it s a fear that something you have done, maybe some sin, or some crime, will be discovered. Randy told me that for his wife, Mary Ann, it was the time she was on the phone with their daughter Ashley, who was pregnant at the time, driving home from work. Mary Ann heard a scream, and then a crash, and then the phone went dead. When she called back frantically, there was no answer. That would terrify me! Could you make a list of your top 10? How about this (a little different question): Has God ever scared you? Has following God ever scared you? Now it s possible that some of you have been terrified of hell. I have known people who think they have committed the unpardonable sin, and their fear of hell would be at the top of their list. But most people, I think, wouldn t describe their life with God as scary. Has God ever nudged you towards a scary place? What s the scariest thing you have ever done because you believed God wanted you to do it? Page 1 of 8
Unfortunately, there are some whose life with God has been rather bland. You wouldn t call it particularly hard, you wouldn t call it particularly scary, maybe it s never even been mildly uncomfortable. Maybe the hardest part of being a Christian for you is just giving up Sunday mornings, or parting with a few dollars in the offering box. Maybe the scariest part is wondering if the preacher is going to talk too long. Or maybe God has nudged you to things that really are a little hard, a little scary. Maybe he has nudged you to talk to someone about Jesus, or go on a mission trip, or volunteer to work our kids, or something. That can be kind of scary. Or maybe you have felt some pretty serious challenges from God. Maybe you have felt his nudge to forgive something you think is unforgivable (that s really hard!), or to give up a sin you really like, or to hold your tongue when you don t want to, or stay in a marriage when you really want out. Doing life God s way, trusting God when you don t understand him, when you don t agree with him, that can be really hard, and really scary. And sometimes sometimes guys, following God, being led by the Spirit, chasing the Wild Goose, can be terrifying. If you have never felt that why not? Okay, if you have your smartphone or your tablet with a Bible app, or one of those old fashioned paper Bibles with you, open up to Acts 19. We ll get there in a few minutes. Acts 19.21. A couple weeks ago we learned that the Celts had a wonderful metaphor for the Holy Spirit. They called him the Wild Goose. They believed he was untamable, unpredictable, even unnerving. They believed that chasing him involved a certain amount of danger. A lot of us would rather clip his wings, tame him, control him. We would prefer that the Wild Goose would follow and serve us, rather than the other way around. But guys, I don t think God ever intended our lives to be too safe, too comfortable, too predictable, too boring. Jesus didn t die on the cross to keep us safe. He meant for us to live a life that is sometimes unsettling, sometimes hard, sometimes even scary. He meant for us to find the word adventure more descriptive than safe. Listen guys, too often, when we think God is nudging, we push back, and sometimes we push back hard. We look for other more comfortable, safer Page 2 of 8
alternatives. But please understand this: the Holy Spirit has an agenda for your life that is way bigger, and way bolder than just making you comfortable and happy. Let me show you the way it works for Paul in the book we ve been studying this year, the book of Acts. I want to show you four verses that are kind of confusing, and yet flat out cool. I ll have them on the screen, because we are going to move pretty fast. Acts 19.21: Doctor Luke, the guys who wrote Acts, says, Afterward (after all the goings on in Ephesus, the apostle) Paul felt compelled by the Spirit to go over to Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem. Now I don t want to spend much time here, I just want you to lock on one piece: Paul feels compelled by the Spirit, nudged by God. Now sometimes God lets us go where we want, and he lets us do what we want. But sometimes God has a place for us to be, and a thing for us to do and we are nudged by God. And when Paul feels nudged by God, he goes. It gets more interesting in chapter 20, verses 22 and 23. Paul says, Now I am bound the Spirit (I am led by the Spirit, I am compelled by the Spirit) to go to Jerusalem. We ve already seen that part. Here s what s new. Paul says, I don t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. I don t know what s going to happen when I get there, but I m pretty sure it s not going to be safe, it s not going to be comfortable. But I m okay with that, he says. Guys, there are two pieces here that are pretty big. Piece #1: Paul didn t get a 3 year plan, or a 5 year plan, or a life plan from God. All he knew was what God wanted him to do right now. Think about it, you ve heard a whole lot of Christians looking for God s will for my life. Guys, sometimes God s will for your life is just to follow his nudges right now. What happens when you get there, I don t know. Just go. Very few people in the Bible got a detailed life plan from God. They just got nudges about what God expects right now. Maybe we need to focus a little less on God s plan for my life tomorrow, and a whole lot more on God s will for my life today, what does God want from me today. Piece #2: It s crystal clear If we go where God sends us, if we do what God tells us to do, it won t always be safe. Paul says, I don t know what s going to happen when I get there, except that it s going to be hard. Guys, if you chase the Wild Goose he s going to take you places, sometimes, where you don t want to be; he s going to tell you to Page 3 of 8
do things, sometimes, that you don t want to do. He will lead us way out of our comfort zones, sometimes into the complete unknown. And that s cool! I wouldn t want to follow a God who demands less. Now here s where the plot thickens. Next chapter, Acts 21.4: Doctor Luke, who was with Paul at the time, says: When we got to the city of Tyre, about 100 miles from Jerusalem, We sought out the disciples and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit (listen: through the same Holy Spirit who was compelling Paul to go to Jerusalem) they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. How does that happen? How does the same Holy Spirit compel Paul to go, and then move these disciples to tell him not to go? Is he just kidding around? Is he just messing with their heads? Does God give us conflicting nudges? Does God contradict himself? Or maybe, one of them is interpreting God s nudges wrong. Either Paul isn t getting it, or these Christians aren t getting it right. What do we do when some Christians think God is pushing this way, and other Christians disagree? That happens a lot. Listen guys, this is important. Sometimes we can feel God s nudge, but we don t always understand what they means. We can misinterpret God. We can misinterpret the promptings of God. I ve seen it happen a lot. I ve done it, I ve watched others do it. I think these Christians in Tyre felt God s nudge, but they took it wrong. It gets worse. A few verses later Paul is in Caesarea that s right close to Jerusalem, about 50 miles away. And a Christian prophet, named Agabus enters the scene. I love that name Agabus. We had a chicken once named Agabus. I think we ate him. Anyway, Agabus (this prophet) came over, and he took Paul s belt, and and he tied up his own feet and hands with the belt. Then he said, The Holy Spirit declares, So shall the owner of this belt be bound by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles. Guys, this is a Holy Spirit warning: If Paul goes to Jerusalem, he is going to be arrested and jailed. Would you go anyway? Well the Christians do exactly what you d think they would do. (Show verse 12) They begged him, Don t go! there s trouble there, don t go! Listen, sometimes the love we have for each other makes it tough to accept God s will. I love my kids and my grandkids, but I sure hope God doesn t call them to be missionaries. I don t want them that far away. I don t want them to do without. I don t want them in danger. If they feel called to missions, I ll be tempted to try to talk them out of it. Turn it around. I didn t want to be here, Page 4 of 8
at Capital City. I took this job because I was fired by the college, and I had a family to support. I figured I d stay here long enough to be decent to the church, and then I d find another teaching job. And now, 18 years later, I really don t want to God to call me away from here. This is where my family is. And I ve actually grown to love you guys go figure. My love for my family would war against a call from my God. Love sometimes makes following God s nudges tough. These Christians were afraid for Paul. There s danger down there, Paul don t go! You see they understood the warning, they understood the danger, and they didn t want Paul there. Listen to what he says: (verse 13) Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! (You see,) I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus. I know what s coming, guys, and I m all in. You re making it tough, but I m all in. I m chasing the Wild Goose, and I ll go wherever he wants me to go, and do whatever he wants me to do. And finally they gave in. Doctor Luke who was there Dr. Luke says, When it was clear that we couldn t persuade him, (when we got tired of arguing; when we couldn t change his mind) we gave up and we said, The Lord s will be done. Guys, sometimes it s hard, sometimes it s even scary to do life with God. What if I pray for his guidance, and he tells me to go somewhere I don t want to go, or do something I don t want to do? What if he takes me where it is not comfortable, or even not safe? Francis Chan said he asked a friend if he genuinely wanted to know God s will. And his friend was remarkably honest. He said, No, that would freak me out! A lot of us are afraid of being led by the Spirit, so we settle. We are afraid of chasing the Wild Goose, because we sense this truth: the Holy Spirit is guaranteed to ask you do go somewhere or to do something you don t want to do, or choose to do. So we settle. Guys, God s agenda for us is not our comfort and our safety. What he has for us is vastly more interesting than that. Listen, if all you want out of God is to do a little church, so you get just enough forgiveness to get to heaven, so you can keep on living a semi-moral life, and not change much you don t need to chase the Wild Goose. If all you want from God is just enough help so you can be comfortable while you are doing your own thing you don t need the Holy Spirit. If you are content Page 5 of 8
with settling for infinitely less than you were made for, you can become quite good at ignoring his nudges and justifying your disobedience; but you ll sense, you ll know, you are settling There was a group of missionaries in the early 20 th century who were called the one way missionaries. They packed all their stuff in caskets and bought one way tickets to the mission field. They never expected to return home. One of them, a guy named A. W. Milne, felt called to a tribe of headhunters on some islands of the south Pacific. All the other missionaries who had gone before him had been martyred, but he felt God s nudge to go anyway. He lived among these people for 35 years, he never returned home. When he died, the tribe buried him, writing this epitaph on his tombstone. It said, When he came there was no light. When he left there was no darkness. Guys, I want that kind of courage. I want that kind of courage for you. When did we every start thinking that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things? Guys, if we chase the Wild Goose, he will lead us into the shadowlands where light and darkness clash. There was another missionary named C. T. Studd. Isn t that a great name? What guy wouldn t want his name to be Studd? He said, Some want to live within the sound of the church or chapel bell; (he says) I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell. Guys, the church needs more studs! You buy that? Mike Foster became convicted about the damage caused by porn. So he started the XXXchurch.com it s a pretty cool ministry, it s worth checking out. And he started setting up booths at porn conventions in Vegas. And through his ministry thousands of porn addicts have found forgiveness, and freedom in Jesus. Right now I don t feel called to a ministry like that. But I do feel called to get really serious about transforming Capital City from an attractional to a missional church. Guys, there are thousands of people out there in our town, our neighbors, our friends -- who are not doing life with God. If we simply do what everybody else is doing we ll get what everybody else is getting. And most churches are not getting it done! We want to be a church for the unchurched. We want to be a church where people are not content with making it through life safe, and secure, and comfortable. We want to be a church were people are being transformed, where people are becoming Page 6 of 8
what God meant them to be, and doing what God meant them to do, where God s people are getting it done. Where is God nudging you? What tough thing is he calling you to do? What is he asking you to give? Or what is he prodding you to give up? What is he asking you to forgive? Who is he nudging you to talk to? Where is he nudging you to serve? Not next week, not tomorrow, but today (Take off shoes and socks) I saw Francis Chan do this one time. Now understand, Francis Chan is quite young, and quite skinny, and quite athletic. So he wasn t in nearly as much danger of pain or embarrassment as I will be. Step up onto beam Now, this is what Christians do, a lot. We try to serve God, but then things get a little rocky, things get a little unstable. And so we think, this is kind of crazy, I don t want to live like this. (crouch down) Let me hold on. And this is your routine, this is what so many people do. You know what? I m not going to try anything crazy. I m just going to hold on. In fact (lie down) this is what you look like This is what people do. I m just going to play it safe. I ll have my nice little family, and we re just going to keep to ourselves and live in a safe place. I ll home-school my kids and make them sit in car seats and wear helmets everywhere. I m not going to let them outside because the sun is kind of dangerous. I m going to and on and on and on. And you just live your life in the safety of, I don t want to do anything crazy for God. I ll just go to church on Sundays and give maybe 2%, and maybe serve in the nursery when I feel guilty. And you do this your whole life and your greatest prayer is kind of like, God, you know what, I would love to die in my sleep and not even feel it. And just go up to heaven (start dismounting). And die without pain, right in the middle of a dream, a good dream, and you don t even feel it. And then suddenly you wake up and you stand before the judge and you go (pose for the judges) Now, could you imagine watching the Olympics and some girl does that? She just gets up there and starts straddling this thing and then steps off and goes (pose)? What is the judge supposed to do on his card? And you see, that is the routine that so many Christians are living. That s the routine: the boring, the I do nothing crazy because I don t want to fall, life. That s the routine: to live as safely as I can And then one day it s going to be a shock because they are going to step off that balance beam and realize they Page 7 of 8
are standing before the Judge. And do you think he s going to look at that routine and go, Wow! Well done! You lived the safest life possible, you didn t slip, you didn t fall. You see, that s not the life God has called us to. That s the life most Christians live, but I don t want to live like most Christians live Batterson Reading: Two thousand years ago, Jesus issued a standing invitation: follow me. But it came with a warning: Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. When you embark on your Wild Goose chase, you never know where you re going to end up. Jesus never promised safety or certainty or predictability. And he certainly didn t die on the cross to tame us. He died to make us dangerous. He died to invite us into a life of spiritual adventure. And if you will have the courage to come out of the cage and chase the Wild Goose, life will turn into another day, another adventure! Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Don t let fear dictate your decisions. Don t take the easy way out. Don t maintain the status quo. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing not to lose and start playing to win. Take off your sandals. Live today like it is the first day and the last day of your life. Don t let what s wrong with you keep you from worshiping what s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Challenge old assumptions. Blaze new trails. Don t try to be who you re not. Be yourself. Don t make a living. Make a life. Quit making excuses. Quit playing defense. And quit putting eight-foot ceilings on what God can do. Chase the Goose. Page 8 of 8