Romans 12:9-13
9 Don’t just pretend to
love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is
good. 10 Love each other with genuine
affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never
be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in
trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When
God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
Introduction
The key verse for this blog is verse 11 - "Never be
lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically."
Have you ever tried to describe people as an object or image? It can tell you a lot about what you think about their personality. For instance, if I were to describe Sherry Dickson, I would say she is like a refreshing spring. She’s caring, calm, quiet, peaceful--just like a refreshing spring. Sallie Thomas is like a playful puppy. She’s
playful, fun, and gregarious.
I describe myself like a lump of coal. I am pretty boring on the surface and can even
seem cold. But if you can ever get me to
catch fire, I burn hot and for a long time. I'm like that Rolling Stones song: “If you start me
up! If you start me, up I’ll never stop!”
And what gets me started? What lights my fire? What gets me burning is my passion for the Lord’s
Church. There’s a fire in my bones! It burns hot within me. If I try to sit idle, if I try to stay
silent, I can’t. My passion for the Lord
bubbles up within me and burst forth like billowing steam from a locomotive. It propels me to be active and serve the
Lord.
No matter the obstacle—whether it be climbing
a mountain of difficulty or a tunneling through the fear of uncertainty or
crossing a bridge over raging adversity—this holy train is gonna keep on
chuggin’! The hardest part for me is looking out the
windows and seeing all the people standing idle by as I pass them. And I want to cry out, “Get on board! Little children, get on board! Little children, there’s room for many a
more!”
And so my prayer has been since before I became
a minister—in truth, I believe it’s the largest part of my purpose in life and
why God called me to be a minister—is my burning desire to see everyone get on
board the heavenly train that’s bound for Glory!
I wrote this in my payer journal. It’s an entry from July 12,
1999:
“Father, I want Your people across the whole world to be revitalized. I want to see lost souls saved and I want to see saved souls filled with holy passion. Lord come, make us more like Jesus. I want You to be so close to us that our bodies tremble ans shake. I want You to be so near that we can see, hear, smell, and taste You. I want the world to be dumbfounded by Your awesome presence. No more skepticism. Nor more dismissal. No more doubt. I want everone to see You are real and You are Lord and You are awesome. Lord, pour out Your Spirit on Your people. Amen.”
You see, this was my prayer 17 years ago and it’s been my
heart’s desire and prayer ever since then.
I want whole hearts broken and I want broken hearts made whole again.
Whole Hearts Broken
In America, we are complacent. We are satisfied, content, and
unconcerned. But we are satisfied and content with the wrong things—worldly things—and we are unconcerned that our
complacency and love of the world is sending us barreling down the tracks to
destruction. Our society is eroding. Our families are weakening. People are abandoning the church in favor of worldly
pursuits. Our culture has even gone so far as to abandon
common sense and redefined the natural order of gender—something that is so
basic, so common sense, even animals understand it. And yet, now it is widely accepted that a man
can marry a man or a woman can marry a woman.
Who knows what absurd combinations the depraved human mind in America
will be coming up with in the years ahead!
And we—most of us—are just fine with that. Let us make our money. Let us have peace. Let us continue to feel good about ourselves
and our lavish lifestyles and our leisure pursuits. Don't make us feel uncomfortable about sin. Don’t trouble us with stories about
misfortune and injustice in other countries.
Don’t worry us with concerns about suffering in our own
neighborhoods. Let us go on without any
guilt about how our complacency actually makes us responsible for the
destruction of our nation.
And I say, “No!
I will not let you off the hook!
I will not let you go on wearing your blinders so you can’t see your
disinterest is leading you to destruction while you drag others with you." My prayer is that God would turn your world
upside down until you see the way you are living and thinking and acting are
all wrong—that you’ve put your hope in the wrong things and your passion in
life has been misplaced. My prayer is that
God will break your heart. I pray God
will torment you until you surrender it all to Him and let Him fill you with
His holy passion—so that your heart becomes like Jesus’, so you will hurt for the hurting and be
broken-hearted for the lost, and you will feel a fire in your bones that compels you to give your all for the Kingdom of God!” I want to see whole hearts broken! Do you understand what I mean?
Broken Hearts Made
Whole
I don’t mean that I want our world to be full of broken-hearted
people. The truth is, our world is
already full of broken hearted people—half of them don’t even realize they are
broken. I want God to make us all whole
again. If God is going to make you
whole, you first have to realize you are broken.
There are many people in our world who already know they are
broken—or at least they have a good suspicion. You don’t
have to tell most addicts that they are broken.
They know. They are bitterly
aware that they’re out of control—that their addiction is killing them and
hurting others. Most addicts—whether
they are addicted to drugs or alcohol—are racked with guilt over their actions
and beyond frustrated that they can’t change their behavior. And there are all kinds of addiction—addiction to things (buying,
materialism), addiction to pornography, food addictions ( what I thin is the leading cause of heart
disease), workaholics… We are all addicts in one common way. We are
addicted to sin. That’s the whole point
of Christianity—to rehabilitate sinners and help us break the chain of our
sinful lives.
Others know they are
broken too. They feel the shame of their
sin. They recognize they are lost. They know they need something, Someone to
save them. They know there must be
something more to this world. “For God
has planted eternity in our hearts so that we are restless until we find rest in Him.” And for those who are unable to drug
themselves and numb the God-ache in their heart, they realize something is missing. They are broken-hearted.
Jesus commanded his followers, “Go, therefore, into all the world
and make disciples…” Are you a follower of
Jesus? Are you a Christian? Then Jesus’ words are
for you. He told you to go and make disciples.
He didn’t say: go and enjoy your
family, go to the ball game, go indulge your worldly desires. He said, “Go and make
disciples…” So why don’t you obey
the Lord? Pray that the Lord would make
your heart more like his—that you would be filled with his holy passion for the
least, the last, and the lost.
Are you broken-hearted today?
Then I want you to find new hope in Christ. Jesus is here to bind up your broken heart
and make it whole again.
Conclusion
Some of you here today have been
complacent. You’ve been drifting through
life pretty content with the way things are.
But today, I’ve lit a fire in your bones. I’ve unleashed the fire of the Holy Spirit
upon you. Maybe it’s only started as faint
flicker, but that fire is gonna grow in you like it grew in me. I’m here to tell you, it won’t go away. It won’t leave you alone. You may try to ignore it, but the holy fire
of God is going to burn up in your bones until you can’t stand it anymore and
you have to do something about it.
Whether it takes a few days or a few years, it’s gonna torment you until
you give in and answer the Lord’s call on your life. I recommend you answer it know. Why put off the inevitable and put yourself
through more and more discomfort? Surrender. Get your heart right
with God today.
Some here today are broken-hearted. You’ve failed.
You’ve fallen. You’ve sinned. Perhaps today you realize you’ve not been
following Jesus like you should. Today, the Lord compels me to pray for you, to
offer you the Lord's pardon and peace. Jesus says,
“Come to me all you who are weary and carry heaven burdens and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you. For my burden is light and I will give you
rest.”
Would you turn to the Lord today? Would you receive His grace and peace? But you say, “I don’t know how! I don’t know how!” It’s simple.
Close your eyes. Bow your
head. Ask Jesus to forgive you. Ask him to take control of your life. Give him control. Let him lead you. Trust Jesus.
He can make a way when there seems to be know way. It's time to get on board with where Jesus wants to take you.