Look

The Christian life has become synonymous with activity.

There is a danger in being religious. One danger is that instead of waiting on God to receive power, we busy ourselves with activity. Have you noticed how the Christian life has become synonymous with activity?

Attend church services weekly. Volunteer. Attend Bible study, Sunday school, or a midweek small group. Serve the poor and needy. Attend special events. Attend a workday. Get involved in men's or women's ministries. Get into a small group that meets weekly. Join a men's or women's small group for accountability. Join a couples' group to work on your marriage. Read your Bible every day because you're not a true Christian if you read less than thirty minutes. Oh, and don't forget to journal! Be a good citizen who gets involved in the community. Be an active parent who attends every little league game. Join in workplace initiatives and invest in relationships in your neighborhood. Go on a missions trip. If you're a church leader, go to meetings, organize events, rally teams, and follow up on contacts. Oh, and invite people to come to church so they can be just as busy as you are! [adapted from http://www.leadingsmart.com/2009/06/hey-church-were-just-not-that-into-you.html]

We need to wait on God and listen to what his word says.

The very first thing Christ asked his Church to do was wait! In Acts 1:4 (NIV) Christ says, "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." I'm not against any of these activities. But understand, before the early Church got busy, they waited for power. And because they waited, the Lord did extraordinary things in their midst through signs, miracles, and wonders.

Another danger of religion is that we stop listening to God's word. There is an old saying that, "familiarity breeds contempt." The danger of religion is that we think we've heard it all, and we've got it all figured out.

You should know that it was religious people who failed to recognize the birth of Christ. They failed to recognize the truth of his teaching, the mercy and grace of his ministry, and the signs, miracles, and wonders that vindicated his authority. It was religious people who failed to recognize Christ's triumphal entry, his death, his burial, his resurrection, and his ascension into heaven. Religious people crucified the Christ, all the while believing they were rendering a service unto God!

The longer you sit in that pew, the harder it becomes for you to listen, to recognize the hand of God, and to feel the activity of his Holy Spirit. The longer you sit, the harder it becomes to repent, be baptized, and learn to obey and submit to everything Christ commanded. Such is danger of religion!

Do you truly hear when God speaks?

If you need a hearing test, look at Acts 2:37 (NIV)! "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' " If you don't ask this same question every time the word of God is spoken, you are probably religious and deaf.

We've titled this series, "This Changes Everything", but keep in mind, religion doesn't change anything. If you're not being changed, you haven't first waited. You haven't listened to God's voice!

There is a third danger to being religious. We stop looking or seeing what God would have us see.

In Acts 3:1-3 (NIV) we read how, "One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer-- at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money."

Now, there are some things about this story we need to notice. Every day at the same time, the man crippled from birth would get dropped off at the temple gate. He probably spent his life watching religious people go into the temple gate to pray. Yet the one thing that never changed was his chronic condition. His feet and ankles were shriveled up. The muscles in his legs were severely atrophied. His family and friends didn't know anything else to do for him but to carry him to the temple gate every day.

At some point, this man had given up on God. He would've stopped believing, stopped hoping, stopped trusting, and stopped praying. He would've concluded that his condition was too severe for God to heal. And at some point, he would've decided just to make the best of his deteriorating condition. He managed his pain, his disappointment, and his discouragement.

The greatest blessing he could fathom was "maybe" getting a little money from God's people. So this is what he did every day. But money would have been little more than a temporary fix. It would have shut him up for a few days, and enabled him to make the best of his pitiful circumstance, but then he would have been back at the temple gate, begging.

We don't know much about this man. We don't know his name or his exact circumstance, and yet we experience his story every day. I wonder how many of you find yourself in circumstances that seem impossible, even for God? How many of you have stopped believing, stopped hoping, or stopped praying? How many of you have settled for something less than what God can do in his power? Yet isn't that what we often do?

Have you settled for something less than what God can do in his power?

For months since I met her and she got baptized, I've been praying for Buffy, that God would heal her cancer, even as it seems to keep spreading. We've been praying for Carl Dahlquist, one of our elders, and for Leon Quandt. I've been praying for Ellyn, who has these mysterious tumors forming in her arms and legs that cause constant pain and deep anguish. Along with you, I've been praying for David, who is so courageous in his battle against leukemia.

For years I've fought against arthritis in my feet. It can be so painful and so persistent. For decades now, I've prayed for my brother to be set free from the power of sin once and for all. Yet every time he gets out of jail, he spirals further out of control.

Do we keep on praying? Do we keep on believing? Do we keep on trusting and hoping? Do we lower our expectations? Do we settle for something less?

In your bulletin there is a colored note card. I'll bet there is some mountain, something in your life so big, you wonder if you'll ever have the faith to move it. Why not write that thing on your card? Maybe it's an illness, a cancer, a tumor, a condition, a loss, an addiction, a temptation, a sin, a past mistake, a thorn, an incapacity, an ache, a pain, a broken relationship, an emotion, a resentment, an injustice, a pressure, a debt to pay, or a job.

Sometimes that thing on your note card becomes so big, you can't see anything else, not even God. Sometimes that thing becomes so big, we resign ourselves to it, and we begin to raise a white flag of surrender. God's invitation for all of us this morning is to look.

God invites us to look.

Acts 3:1-20 (NIV) continues the story. "One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer-- at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, 'Look at us!' So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them."

"Then Peter said, 'Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.' Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him."

"While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them: 'Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.' "

"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you-- even Jesus."

The danger of being religious is that we stop waiting to receive power from God. It's that we stop listening to God's word. It's that we'd fail to look, and see, and learn to pray in faith, and experience Christ's resurrection power in our lives.

What if God has something in mind for you?

What if God has in mind to bless you with a miracle, but you never asked?

What if God has in mind for you to walk and jump, dance and leap, and sing his praises in the temple courts, but you never asked?

What if God has something far greater for you than all you could ask or imagine? What if he has in mind to bring glory to his name? What if he has in mind to put his power on display in your life for all your friends to see, but you never asked?

Let it not be so.

This morning, you have to decide what to do about the thing you wrote on your note card. In a few moments our ushers are going to collect our offering. If you're ready to turn your struggle over to God, you can drop your note card in the buckets as they are passed.

As our worship team sings, we're going to lay all those cards out on the stage, so that anyone who is so moved, can come forward and pray over them.