Maybe I was ready and the timing was just right; maybe the Holy Spirit was extra-busy convicting me. Maybe Pastor Tom was super-passionate about the topic; maybe his extemporaneous, personal, deep-felt delivery drove arrows deep into my heart. Maybe all of the above were true.
In any case, yesterday’s sermon (at our Michigan church this time) broadsided me in a way I can hardly describe. I came away re-committed; submitted and surrendered to God (with surrender that paradoxically defines victory); motivated to embrace all souls in order to offer them a glimpse of the Kingdom that gives me hope and purpose; encouraged to love in outrageous, adventurous, life-altering ways. Why? Jesus came to free captives with His unreserved love – love we receive from Him and then share extravagantly as His representatives. Any other reason to live pales in comparison.
For me, the word Pastor Tom chose - extravagance - paints a picture of Victorian elegance and opulence: unrestrained and fantastic lavishness. This is how God loves me and blesses me. This is how I am to love and bless others - extravagantly.
Pastor Tom spoke in counter-cultural terms: “The Christian life is not about self-fulfillment; it’s about self-denial.” This doesn’t infer that we live in poverty, but it does necessitate overt humility.
“It’s not what you believe that counts, it’s what you believe enough to DO.” Belief (heart/soul transformation rather than intellectual/rational acknowledgment) is lifeless without works to back it up. Such belief inspires lavish mercy as we humbly bow before the Lord (where we become as strong as we’ll ever get).
He said the gospel requires Jesus’ disciples to do hard things, but only as empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ love enables us to love (give and give and give) with our very lives; to love with reckless abandon; to love wild.
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Then this morning breaks, and I see myself realistically. I not only deceive others with pretentious claims and appearances, but also myself with self-defeating, self-serving stubbornness. Yesterday’s extravagant service mind-set cannot take hold without first obeying Him with an unfettered, yielded heart. When I listen for God’s voice via the indwelling Holy Spirit, His Word and His people, my response is not just to hear - but obey.
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