The side of our building says, God’s Love in Action. It has been the motto of this body for all of this new century. We have grown into it to the point that there is much fidelity between what our motto says and who we are.
We get this love in action stuff. We like to do things that show our love. Jesus said this is how people will know that you are my disciples.
We want to love God and love others. There are some things that are just about taking care of a fellow believer and others that are for everyone. We have dived head first into both.
How do we love God? We worship him in spirit and in truth. We come before almighty God with no pretense. That means even if we can quite catch the melody for the song, we sing anyway knowing our heart is hitting the perfect notes. We love God by worshiping him.
We tithe. We may not make much, but the first ten percent is the Lord’s and we give it joyfully. We make offerings that go beyond the tithe. We love God in our faithful giving.
We read God’s word aloud and write much of it on our hearts.
We come into the assembly seeking to please God and not to see what we can get out of it. We realize that it’s not all about me.
We love God by loving others in so many ways. We give rides, loan vehicles, give out food all year long.
We help with bills. We get people coats when it’s cold. We help reconstitute lives when a house burns to the ground.
We pray with people, console people, and feed a lot of hungry people. We deliver love in a sack lunch during the summer.
We teach kids at VBS and then throw them a pool party. We walk the town telling people that God loves them.
We give out gospels galore. That’s our form of measurement—gospels galore.
We hold funeral services for people who are very much disconnected from the church. We are very much God’s love in action. We surely have some blind spots but we act on them when we find them.
But there is another kind of love in action. It’s almost invisible. You can’t keep it on the shelf. You can’t deliver it or have someone come pick it up. You can’t buy it or sell it. But it is love and action and love in action as much as giving a box of food or helping someone with their water bill or holding a love ambush for the kids—Easter Egg Hunts and Trunk or Treat events.
What is it?
It is trust. It is plain and simple trust in the Lord.
That sounds like a warm and fuzzy thing more than action. And that’s why we don’t always recognize it as action.
Now, this sort of trust doesn’t mean that when we find another believer in need and have the means to help him or help her, we just walk on by and say, “I trust that someone else will help them.”
It doesn’t mean that when we know we are supposed to share the gospel that we say, “I trust God to take care of this with someone more qualified.”
It is not handing someone a gospel tract or a Bible and saying, “I trust that you will figure this out and be a better person.”
This is trusting in the Lord when I want something now and even think that I must have it now but I wait on the Lord to provide in his time and from his glorious riches.
This is not being anxious or worried about something because my trust is in the Lord. Maybe it’s a car payment or getting a promotion or whether or not your child gets to start in the baseball game.
Understand that sometimes the direction that you receive from the Lord tells you that you have more car and accessories than you need at this time. You need less car and smaller payments. Sometimes the Lord wants you to know that you are not getting promoted because you are not doing as great a job as you are telling everyone that you are. And sometimes the Lord wants you to just let the coach do his job and let the kids play ball.
And sometimes, God has something beyond your wildest imagination that just not here yet.
Trusting the Lord, waiting on the Lord, and not giving in to anxiousness is not our natural human condition. We want what we want and most of the time we want it now.
Sometimes trusting in the Lord is waiting. Waiting is action when it is done in trust. If you have ever done the Disneyworld or Universal Studios vacation, then you know what trust is. You stand in a line and trust that sometime in the near future, you will get to the ride. After you have been in line for an hour, you might get an affirmation that the line in fact does lead to a ride when you make it to the one and one-half hours from this point sign.
If I can trust Disney and wait on my chance to get on this three-minute ride, then I hope that I can trust in the Lord and wait on what he has in store for me.
Sometimes trusting in the Lord is doing what you know that he wants you to do for one more day. This whole eating healthy thing doesn’t seem to be producing the results that I want. This drinking more water and fewer soft drinks doesn’t seem to be doing anything. This whole getting up 30 minutes early to pray and read my Bible hadn’t made my life any easier.
Sometimes trusting is just staying the course, even if for just one more day. As it turns out, we can only live one day at a time.
Isn’t that what addicts and alcoholics say—one day at a time? It’s not just for them. There really are no other options. That’s the way that life unfolds—one day at a time.
That’s also the way we trust. In this moment, in this hour, in this day we trust the Lord. Trust is action.
It is not action like swinging at a fastball or tackling the quarterback or draining a three-point shot, but it is still action.
Trust often involves waiting, not immediate gratification. So many times, we help people who come to us with a problem that they have ignored for a few months and suddenly the bill is due today, or the power gets shut off. One of the first things that I usually tell people is that if we decide to help, it probably won’t be today. Go call the company and see if they will give you a longer grace period.
So many people are looking for answers but not willing to invest in trust. I just want my immediate problem fixed so I can get back to my life that hasn’t been working out so well, but I am comfortable with it.
Some many go from urgent problem to urgent problem to urgent problem with no sanity in sight. So many do not want to trust the Lord. So many don’t see peace anywhere on their horizon.
I am not talking just about people who need help with a bill. Many people won’t trust the Lord in family troubles or during times of loss. Some stop trusting the Lord when something bad happens. Trusting the Lord is loving the Lord.
God, why would you let this happen? I don’t know if I can trust you anymore. I don’t know where to turn. I need something tangible.
What people say they need and what the Lord has prescribed are often miles apart. What people need is trust. Trust in the Lord is the prescription.
But this is only a partial strength prescription for we are counseled to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. There is no hedging your bet. There is no Plan B. It is what I like to call, All In.
It’s not, I will try this the Lord’s way for three days or a week or even a month. It’s I will trust in the Lord with everything that I am. I will trust in the Lord with all of my heart.
Let’s briefly consider another proverb embodied in a discussion of rich hosts and fools. Proverbs 23:7 tells us that “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
What’s going on in our heart is really who we are. Our minds might be able to quote two dozen Bible verses but if our heart does not value these words, we don’t value them.
Our mind might tell us that it sure would be easier this way, but if our heart tells us that a different way would please God, then we must bring our minds into agreement with our hearts.
This is the battle between trusting in the Lord and choosing our own understanding. Our own understanding seems more tangible. Surely it makes more sense. Why? It’s our own understanding. Of course, it makes sense to us. We can wrap our minds around our own ideas and conclusions.
What is it to trust in the Lord with all of your heart? How do we trust the Lord with all of our heart? Here are some things that you will see in yourself and perhaps in others if you trust in the Lord with all of your heart.
They read the Bible. How does this say trust? They look for the answers before life gives them the questions, and they know where to find them. They are so convinced that God has shown us the way they are not going to wait for problems before they start looking for answers.
They make daily appointments with God. This isn’t just a quick prayer in the morning and one with each meal. This is real time with the One who knows the way. In fact, he is the Way. It is a deliberate thing. It is something worth pushing daily demands aside to do. People who trust God make significant time for him.
They understand and accept that it’s a broken world. But I believe in Jesus and everything should go without a hitch from now on. That’s not exactly what the Bible says. In fact, Jesus is very clear. You will have trouble in the world. We accept that, but we don’t permit ourselves despair for Jesus has overcome the world. For now, though, it’s broken. In a broken world, bad things do happen to good people but trust is not contingent upon circumstances.
In prayer, they listen much more than they talk. If you can’t sit silently waiting on the Lord to answer, maybe you don’t value his answer or don’t really want his answer. If you pray asking God to bless what you want because it makes sense to you, there might be a trust issue. This doesn’t mean that we don’t offer up to the Lord what we think we ought to do. It means that we don’t try to limit what God has to say to us just to those things we want to hear.
They are not distracted by false urgency. Their eyes are fixed on Jesus. They are willing to wait upon the Lord. They are not hedging their bets. It is all in with trusting the Lord. You may be falling to pieces trying to keep up with the world’s priorities, but the man or woman who trusts in the Lord with all their heart is not cut off in his race. They never want to hear the words, “You were running a good race. Who cut you off?”
They obey the Lord. When the answer that God provides is not the one they had worked out in their own understanding, they still do it God’s way. Trust leads to obedience.
They believe that the Spirit that lives within us is greater than any spirit in the world. They believe that they are playing for the winning team and are fully equipped for what God calls them to do. Obedience is not difficult, it’s not burdensome; it’s the only viable choice.
There is a lot of action in trust. This is not an all-encompassing list, but it hits some points where we can do some self-assessment or accountability partner assessment. You will find your own indicators of trust.
There is one more thing that you might notice among those who trust the Lord, including yourself. In everything you do, you acknowledge the Lord.
It’s not, Ooooooh. I guess that I will do this God’s way. I hope it works out ok. Man, this could be my undoing. What am I doing?
It’s I’m all in. I trust the Lord. I might not be able to explain exactly how everything is going to work or work out, but I trust the Lord. I’m yours. I am your servant. You have called me friend. I am your disciple.
I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.
Here is the thing that is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you trust the Lord over your own understanding and acknowledge him every step of the way, he shows you the way—he directs your path or makes your way straight.
Trust is action. In fact, the other things that we call action and are easy to see must be done in trust to produce fruit. Trust is action.
It is officially baseball season so by Major League rules I am required to include at least one thing pertaining to baseball. Did you ever see a batter swing at a pitch that he really didn’t want to swing at? It is a pitiful looking thing. Mind and body are not in agreement. The bat just somehow comes forward but there is no commitment in the swing. I would rather swing hard at a pitch and miss it by a foot than have one of those uncommitted swings.
Trust involves consonance between heart and mind. We must trust the Lord enough that our heart convinces our mind that his way is better than our way. God’s way is better. Even when our own understanding tells us differently, we trust that God’s way is better.
You might think, I understand the philosophy of all this, but give me some specifics. Beware, I might get under some people’s skin as we look at trusting God instead of our own understanding.
God’s way is marriage. In our own understanding, we think shacking up is just as good.
God’s way is living within our means. In our own understanding, we think everyone has a bunch of debt it must be ok.
God’s way is that we show respect for our leaders and pray for them. In our own understanding, we think contempt of those in authority is a daily staple.
God’s way is that we do not forsake the gathering together of believers. Too many Christians think, I’m saved I don’t need to hang out with all those hypocrites.
God’s way is that the man is the spiritual leader of the family. The world says everyone or no one is the leader. That thought of the husband being the spiritual leader is archaic.
God says take a Sabbath day of rest and honoring him. The world says—and the world has done a very thorough brainwashing job on so many—the world says that you don’t have time for that.
God’s way is to trust him completely. The world says trust anyone but the one true God. Make your own god if you need to, it’s easier. Rely upon your own understanding. Be your own god.
The list could go on. You might want to spend some time in which you examine parts of your life in which you trust God completely and those in which the world has you convinced you of something else.
What I hope to convince you of this morning is that trust is action. It’s not a warm and fuzzy feeling. Trust is action and trusting in the Lord with all of your heart leads to obedience.
The sign on the side of the building is validated. We know how to love God by loving others, but how we love God directly?
Let’s start by trusting him with all of our hearts. Let’s start with trust.
Amen.
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